The Sound Of Scrap's Heart
by Storylady35
Summary: Snatched from the world of human to one of strange human Cybertronians, Scrap quickly begins her life as a trainee medic beside the fatherly figure of Knockout, her life presses on, shining the pros and cons of being surrounded by aliens while among them new beginning a romance blossoms when a certain communications officer catches Scrap's eye. *M for Future 'Butter'* OC/Soundwave
1. Chapter 1

The Sound of Scrap's Heart

By Storylady35 and ThemSoundwaves

Edited by CountryDream14

This, I should say, is not a _continuation_ of Scrap or even an _alternative_ of Scrap. This is a _whole new story_ that just has some of the same names and there _is_ some OCC-ness in this story. And there are a few… none prime but cannon characters in here.

You'll see what I mean in the first few lines.

**Storylady: I want to thank my wonderful co-writer and editor for a really crazy but great time chatting at the strangest of times on the weirdest of subjects. Thanks Butter and Rocky, you're the best! **

**ThemSoundWaves: I have had a GREAT time reading and Writing this story with Story and Rocky! They are amazing people; we've been having so much fun with this. Story likes to call taunt me by calling me Butter :P I hope you guys enjoy this story as much as we enjoy creating it! All I have to say is Scrap/Soudwave fans out there, you ****_will_**** be pleased, love you all and have a great read!**

**CountryDream14:** **Howdy there! This is CountryDream14, a.k.a Rocky, and I help with the editing of this story. It's a lot of fun working with these two and I hope I did good at my job. If you have any questions or helpful hints, feel free to PM me on my profile. Thank you for reading!**

**SL: I'm sure the three of us will be leaving other A/Ns as the story continues but for now; **

_Are you sitting comfortably? Then we'll begin; _

**Chapter 1: Home Far Away from Home**

Eleanor Tripson huffed loudly as she gripped the steering wheel of her car, looking out the side window to see what was behind her since the back of her vehicle was filled with all that was left of her worldly possessions. She sighed and looked up at the sky, trying how to understand how her life had turned around and upside down in the space of three weeks to a point that she was now forced to flee everything she knew.

Three long weeks ago she had everything; a loving boyfriend, her own central apartment and a post as a trainee nurse being well on her way to fulfilling her dream.

Everything was going great for her until a senior doctor at the hospital cornered her in a stock room, expecting a little 'doctor nurse' business. However, he picked the wrong girl as Eleanor wasn't like that. She might look weak and powerless but she would never just lie down and take it. She fought back and managed to stab a pencil into the doctor's wandering hand to get away from him.

She had expected him to forget it, wanting to preserve his pride and reputation, but she'd been wrong, VERY wrong.

The doctor had claimed she attacked him, that she stabbed him to sabotage his career and with no way to prove what had really happened, it was one man's word against hers and she was promptly fired within twenty-four hours. Then, with talk of her now being a violent whore, her boyfriend, David, had the nerve to dump her through a text, then, to put the icing on the cake, her flat flooded and her landlord was being the usual insufferable snot he was and heaving the blame onto her shoulders, saying that she must've broken something.

So Eleanor did the only option she could think of doing at the moment; she withdrew all her money, packed up whatever she could carry in the back of her vehicle, took her car and drove. With no plan, nowhere to go, and no one to call upon, she'd been living in the old beat up Tonka for a week, quickly going through cash for food and fuel. Depression was beginning to set in as she pulled in to the side of a road as the sun began to lower its blazing disc in the sky and turned off the engine.

Yawning, Eleanor shut her eyes and tried to sleep once again but her mind was filled with too many thoughts and fears circling her mind to really settle. Realising she would never get a wink of sleep tonight, the ex-trainee nurse turned the car's radio on low to a rather soothing station and turned the head lights on.

That was when she saw him lying in the middle of the road. At first she thought he was just another road-kill that often littered the country roads, but then it pushed up on one hand and rolled onto its back, showing itself to be human. Gasping, Eleanor wasted no time grabbing her medical kit from the other seat and ran out to help the poor man and comfort him, hopefully in time to get him to a hospitable. The man was covered in rather nasty-looking gashes a thick, dark blue liquid and his damaged hand was loosely holding his shoulder where a majority of the liquid seemed to be. He looked barely conscious.

"It's alright." She said softly to him as she kneeled next to the prone form and put on some gloves. "I'm a nurse. Now, can you tell me what happened?"

The man groaned but said nothing, appearing to be out cold. Eleanor knew that this was not a very good sign if he wasn't able to answer her and decided to get straight to work, first moving him off to the side of the road as gently as she could before checking the man's injuries over until she found the problem. There was a nasty hole on his shoulder, the one he had been holding, but what was confusing her was that the blue liquid appeared to be coming from _inside _his body. His blood was a glowing blue!

_Well. _She thought to herself._ At least I can see it in the dark. _

For a good five minutes she used all her medical knowledge and skill to get the man's bleeding under control, watching as his chest went up and down calmly and his pulse began to stabilise, which was reassuring.

Then, while her hands tied the bandaged in place, Eleanor realised she needed help, but her phone was dead without a place to plug the charger in and she didn't want to leave this man, even if her car was just a few feet away. Thinking quickly, she looked at the man and patted his clothes down in case he had a cell on his person.

Eleanor started to take in the clothing the man wore and she deduced that he was probably a cyclist as his clothing tight fitting to his body like a jumpsuit, but it was completely black, pardon some red lines down the arms and across the chest. What was strange, though, was that he was lacking protective gear, like a helmet, and there didn't seem to be a bike nearby, to Eleanor's knowledge, though the fading light didn't help things any. Never mind him having a phone on him or even pockets for that matter. Was this guy robbed or something? This just seemed to get odder.

Swearing under her breath, the nurse looked frustratingly at the car, wondering how long it would take her to get to the car and back again and if the man could last that long, though he was stabilised somewhat, he was still injured and vulnerable. As she beginning to come to a decision, another set of headlights came at her from the other direction.

"Hey!" She yelled, silently praising the Lord above and erratically waving her free hand above her head. "Hey! Stop!"

The car did stop just ahead of her, momentarily blinding her with the headlights. Bloody, gloved hand over her eyes, the nurse peeked to see who was climbing out but all she could see was a black shape in the light. "Hey, I… I need you to call an ambulance. This man is really badly hurt and needs help." She said, pointing to her patient lying on the side of the road.

"No he's not." Eleanor gave a little jump at the voice. It sounded smooth with a bit of a high pitch to it. It seemed like it was almost chuckling as it spoke to her.

"What?"

"He's dead."

The nurse looked back at her patient, seeing how the man's chest was rising and falling and the blue blood was continuing to seep from the wound. Incredulous, she stated with a defiant tone to her voice. "He's still alive. Please, I need an ambulance now."

The form walked over to her and knelt at the other side of the body and Eleanor was able to see who it was. She'd known it was a man by his voice, at least 30 years old with slicked back spiky red hair and a small goatee down the middle of his chin. The young woman felt her face grow warm suddenly. _He is hot! _

But then he looked at her and she was amazed that his eyes were a bright, glowing red and the grin he gave her made her almost take a step back, feeling as if it sucked her confidence and self-security out. "How long you been here?" He asked, not sounding worried or rushed in the slightest.

"A… about five minutes." She managed to croak out. "I'm a nurse so I knew what to do and… and please, can you go get my phone? It's in the front of the car."

The man looked at the vehicle but made no move towards it. "You do realise you are trying to keep a corpse alive, right?"

"He is still breathing!" She snapped, growing annoyed at his defiance to help. "He is still alive so will you PLEASE get my phone!"

"Look human, he's dead. His spark's gone."

"His what?"

"Spark." The man said, pointing to the hole she was trying to cover. "Without it, he's just a body, a corpse." He tipped his head and hummed a little. "Have to admit, you've done a good job, though. The body should have caved out by now… but you kept it going." He knelt silent for a moment then his eyes turned back to her as he stood back up and brushed his knees down, straightening the long, red jacket he was wearing. "Get up." He ordered.

"What?"

"Get up. You're coming with me." He reached over to grab her shoulder but Eleanor was having none of it. Her flight or fight instincts were screaming at her to take off, but she couldn't leave her patient, not with this man.

She pulled herself free and turned back to her patient. "If you are not going to help then please leave. I'm trying to save a man's life."

She heard the chuckle then the single blast of some sort of laser gun as it hit the man before her in the centre of his chest which sent his blue blood gushing out among the grass and pavement and then fell still. Shocked and bug-eyed at the brutal attack, Eleanor jumped back and landed on her backside, looking at the now large blue splatter on the man's jumpsuit. Her eyes instantly found the man who had shot him. "You… you killed him!" She accused with a heated glare and voice seething with anger. Hot tears threatened to burst forth. She had failed her patient, now he was dead.

"He was already offline stupid." He said, putting the odd weapon back on his side before stepping over to her and grabbing her arm again, pulling her to her feet. "I just made you see it. Now, come along human."

Stunned by the display, Eleanor couldn't even register what the murderer was doing, never mind react to it, as she was dragged away from the corpse and her Tonka towards the other vehicle, hardly noticing as she was thrown into the passenger seat and the door beside her.

It wasn't until the ignition turned on that she even snapped out of it. "Wait, w-what are you doing?!" She was scared out of her wits and felt about ready to jump out of the vehicle.

The driver grinned as he hit the gas. "Told you, you're coming with me."

_Well. _Eleanor thought. **_That_**_ doesn't sound creepy or full of malicious intent at all._

"Why! Where are you taking me!" She yelled, beginning to panic as she reached for the door handle, pulling it madly to try and get out but found it was locked; she turned to the other man. "Stop this car! Let me out!"

"No way. I might have a _use_ for you."

The blood in her veins froze. "What… kind of use?" She asked as fear quickly trickled into her.

"Medical of course." He said, looking at her as if disgusted she'd thought otherwise. "What? Did you think I was taking you for some other reason?"

"I-I dunno! I've never been kidnapped before!" She exclaimed, exasperated.

The driver laughed coldly then pulled the car off the side of the road, following a small dirt track.

"Well, you might want to do your restraint up."

Reaching for the seatbelt, Eleanor did and gave the man a wary look. "Why?"

"Because we're going up."

Confused, and more than a little petrified, she looked out the front window to see that the earth just ended ahead of them and she was facing a sheer drop. Panic washed over her. "HOLY SHIT!" She screamed, grabbing the car's door and the man's arm. "ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

The man said nothing, just drove faster to the edge, the headlights the only thing lighting the way until the earth just dropped off and the car was left in the hands of gravity.

Ground approaching rapidly, Eleanor covered her eyes with her arm while the man just pressed a button on the controls. There was a loud whirring, clunking noise and vibrations shot over the car but then it pulled up from its dive and swooped up into the air, causing the poor woman's stomach to roll.

Panting out of fear and nausea, Eleanor lowered her arms and hesitantly looked out the side window, afraid of what she would find. In the darkness she could make out clusters of lights as towns and cities began to slowly pass them by. She looked closer and saw a long wing coming from the side of the car, which also appeared to have become a stream-lined shape.

"Ok, what the hell just happened!" She snapped, her anger breaking the grip of both fear and self-preservation and throwing them to the wind.

The man smiled but kept his eyes ahead, not looking at her. "What's your name?"

"What?"

"What's your name?"

"Now you decide to ask my name?" She huffed, her mind unable to take it all in as she sank back in the seat. "It's Eleanor." She spoke, feeling exhausted and resigned all of a sudden.

"Eleanor?" He repeated with a distasteful look. "What a strange name. Well, I'm Knockout."

"And you say I have a strange name?" She looked at him incredulously. "So, Knockout, are you going to tell me what the HELL IS GOING ON HERE!"

Knockout nodded out the front window. "You'll see. But tell me, what were you all the way doing out here at this time of night?"

Arms crossed, Eleanor turned her head away. "None of your business."

"Were you going somewhere?"

"No."

"Will anyone miss you?"

"No."

"Good."

"Why?"

He said nothing, just went back to flying the plane-car until nodding. "Ah, home sweet home."

Eleanor looked where he was looking but she couldn't see anything, just the night sky. Then, out of mid-air, a bright square hole appeared which Knockout flew right into and a whole hanger appeared, filled to the brim with dark, strange looking jets that held large, powerful engines on the back, some of them being tended to by people dressed similarly to the person she had been tending to a few minutes previous, though it honestly felt like days to Eleanor.

Knockout parked the car in what looked like a reserved space and climbed out, walked around to the passenger door and opened it, holding out his hand in a gentlemanly gesture. "Come on." He ordered and the woman took his hand to pull herself out. The place was very dark and had a dark aura in the air, making her feel very nervous and self-conscious to the fact her shirt and hands were covered in dry, blue blood.

Keeping herself close to the plane-car, vehicle thing, she held her own hands over her heart and grasped her shirt as her nerves were taking over when she began to see people staring at her before a short whistle brought her attention back to Knockout who was stood between two yellow lines on the floor. "Come on!" He yelled, nodding down the hanger.

Eleanor ran after him and kept a step or two behind, watching his back as he strutted down the hanger and through a door, entering a long hallway with a high ceiling. As people walked past, always in the same uniform, she noticed the number of eyes on her and walked a little quicker to Knockout's side.

"W-where are you taking me?" Eleanor inwardly scolded herself at how pathetic she sounded.

"If I want to keep you, I have to ask Starscream's permission."

"_Keep me_!" She gasped, not liking the way he made her sound like a possession.

"Yeah." He said with a grin. "I've been _really_ over worked recently and could do with a second pair of more… _experienced _hands. You seem to have a knack for it."

Eleanor blinked as she walked beside him. "So… you're offering me a job?"

"I guess. In a way." He said, looking down on her. "Would you like to work for us?"

"I hardly know you."

Knockout chuckled. "Ah well, you will. Right, in here." He nodded to a large tube before them that he quickly ushered her into and pressed a button. "Bridge." He stated clearly.

Before Eleanor could ask what he was doing, a door suddenly slammed shut in front of them and cut off the hallway and the floor began to rise at an alarming pace revealing the tube to be an elevator. "Yikes." She mumbled, hardly able to breath. _If there's anybody up there. _She prayed. _Please make this waking up nightmare end._

Just as she got herself back together, the door opened, revealing a large open space with people milling around over consoles, tapping way while speaking in hushed tones. Knockout nodded her forwards as he walked behind her. "Yo, Starscream!" he yelled. No one responded to him, but that didn't faze the odd man at all.

One man stood in the middle of the room, looking out the panoramic view at the night sky and turned around. Knockout and the others she'd seen all wore that same tight skin like jumpsuit, even if Knockout had his under a long coat, this man, who Eleanor assumed was Starscream, had what could be defined as real 'clothes'; a long grey jacket down to the hip, a pair of high –heeled, military style boots and grey pants with a matching shirt with a red collar. His face was cold and sharp with impressive grey sideburns that came down from his matching hair with a red skunk-stripe down the middle, and he had a general appearance that just made the woman want to hide behind her red haired companion.

Starscream scanned her and scowled. "Knockout, what is the reason for this you bringing this… thing here?"

"Starscream, as you commanded, I went to the last known coordinates of the missing team and found this human keeping a sparkless husk alive. She actually was managing pretty well too."

Starscream locked his hands behind his back and gave Knockout a look that Eleanor could clearly tell was a '_so what?'_

"Your point being?"

"As you know, I'm the only qualified medic on this ship and I have something that requires most of my time at the moment." Knockout said with a certain grin. "If you want to keep this army functional, you need a second _skilled _medic, and I think this human is the one for the job."

"A human would know nothing of our biology!" Starscream snapped, bringing out a scrawny hand and flourishing it in the air. "She would be more trouble than use!"

"Well if you would rather I was spending my time fixing every little cut, graze and stiff back on this ship…."

Starscream's frown showed he didn't like that idea either. "Fine! Keep it!" He pointed at Eleanor. "You, come here!"

When she didn't comply, Knockout pushed her forwards until she was nearly toe-to-toe with the man. She could feel herself trembling uncontrollably but all she could do was stare at the man before her, noticing that his eyes were an even darker red than Knockout's.

Starscream appeared to realise he was striking fear into her and grinned, reaching out and grabbing the woman by the wrist with his scrawny hand and pulling it up above her head. "What's your name human." His voice had a screechy quality and he failed miserably, in Eleanor's eyes, to make it sound smooth and commanding.

"E-Eleanor, sir." She said, adding the formality at the end. She never would allow herself to get in this situation normally but these people just scared her to death.

Starscream huffed, leaning even closer to her. "Humm, what a strange name. If you're going to stay, you're gonna need a more… suitable name." He looked on her as she stood there then he gave a horrid, cold grin. "Scrap."

"What?"

"That's your name from now on. You are now 'Scrap'." He chuckled as if it was some cruel joke; lifting her hand even higher to a point her feet almost didn't touch the floor. "You better make sure you remain helpful, Scrap. Or else…"

Something suddenly cold and round pressed under her chin, lifting her head upwards. Eleanor might not have seen it but she could tell it was the barrel of a gun being pressed under her chin. And if Knockout was willing to kill a dying man, she had no doubts Starscream could, and would, end her life just as easily. Holding onto the last part of her control, she minutely nodded. "I- I understand… sir."

Starscream grinned then, quite roughly, threw her at Knockout who caught her clumsily in his arms. "She's your responsibility now, Knockout. Do not disappoint me."

"I will ensure she is chipped and knows the rules at once Starscream." Knockout said then nodded and gripped the girl's arm to pull her out and back into the lift and away from Starscream who had once again turned to supervise the crew. "Level 5." He said and the door closed then let out a deep breath that he must've been holding in. "Wow, well done kid."

"Huh?" How could anything she did back be stated as being 'well done'?

"I was expecting you to cry or something. You held yourself together pretty well for a human."

"That's not the first time you've called me human. Why?"

Knockout grinned at her as the door opened. "We are not human." He stated, walking down the hall. "We are from another planet, called Cybertron."

It wasn't that much of a shock really, the flight, the eyes, and the blue blood had already told her that but it was relieving to have it confirmed. "Why are you on earth?"

"Cybertron is now dead and this dirt ball has enough energon deposits across it to last us years if we use it wisely."

"What's energon?"

"The blue stuff all over your front."

Looking down at herself, Eleanor scowled. "I don't understand."

"Energon is everything to us. It's our blood, but it's also our 'food' and fuel for our crafts and weapons. Basically, Energon is life."

Grabbing her forehead, the nurse shook herself. "This is too much to take in." She muttered.

"You'll get the hang of it."

"I better; my life is on the line thanks to you."

Knockout stopped as he walked and turned to look at her, a gentle, calmer smile on his lips as he reached out and held her shoulder. "Don't worry Scrap, I will look after you. Promise."

There was something soothing in his voice that time, not the arrogance and pride he held normally but a deeper protective nature that made her smile. She nodded to him. "Thanks Knockout."

"Come on, I'll show you the med bay and our quarters. We don't live up on level three with the others but in our own little set up next door to our station."

Scrap nodded and hurried to follow him. "You really think I'll be alright for this? I mean, I'm only a trainee nurse." Eleanor had decided to keep the 'ex-nurse' part out.

Knockout nodded. "Well then you are in the right point to start learning how to look after a cybertronian. Don't worry; the war is pretty calm at the moment so I can teach you all you need to learn."

"War!" the human scoffed. "No one said anything about a war!"

"Yeah, we're at war with the fragging 'Autobots'. Good for nothing scrapheaps."

"And… they are like you?"

"Well we are the same species. It's a civil war that dates back centuries. You are either a Decepticon, an Autobot, or a traitorous, cowardly neutral who would be shot on sight."

"So you're the Decepticons?"

"Yep."

"Right, I think I'm getting it."

Knockout stopped walking as he stood outside a large door, pressing a button to open it. "Well, here we are. Med bay."

Scrap stepped in first, her eyes looking over the strange set up of the room. Everything was so cold looking but brightly lit. Six long beds on one side of the room while the other side was a collection of computers and highly technical looking machines. The room was empty pardon one man walking among the gadgets.

"Yo, Breakdown!"

The standing man looked over to the pair as they came closer. "Knockout." He said, his voice deeper than the red man at her side. "What is this?"

"This is Scrap. She's going to be working with us from now on."

Scrap tried not to swallow. Breakdown was huge, imposing figure, towering over herself with enormous shoulders, incredibly wide chest, heavy duty arms and bright yellow eyes that scanned her. "Humm." He said then hit the centre of his chest with his palm.

The action was strange but then his shoulders bent inwards like metal and began folding over each other, bending and collapsing down while the rest of his body began retracting. Finally he was left looking like any other normal human. A very well worked out one, but normal. His hair was a thick black while he wore a blue and yellow jumpsuit similar to Knockout's, just not as well looked after.

Scrap blinked back in shock as she watched the last of what had been some form of armour collect into a small trapezoid shaped metal badge with sharp horns at each side, sitting in the middle of his chest. Breakdown wasn't bothered by her fascination in his transformation and turned to Knockout. "Why?" He asked.

"We need the help." Knockout explained. "And it does mean you can go out in the field more. Now would you get me a tracking chip please? Starscream's orders."

"I guess." Breakdown said, looking over the girl then went to the side, picking something up and began messing with it before passing it to Knockout.

Holding the device, which looked like a large complicated gun, Knockout took hold of Scrap's wrist, pressing the point into her skin. "Now, keep still, this won't hurt a bit." Then he pulled the trigger.

When he pulled the trigger, Eleanor jumped back, holding her wrist. "OWW!"

Knockout grinned. "I lied."

Rubbing her sore wrist, Eleanor eyed the gun. "What is that?"

"A tracker." He said, smiling. "Just so we know where you are and if you go somewhere you're not meant to."

Breakdown chuckled a little but then looked at the human as she rubbed her arm. "So… your name's Scrap hey?"

"My name is Eleanor but… Starscream said I needed a more suitable name for around here."

Breakdown pulled a face. "And he picked Scrap? Well that's just typical of him."

"Why?"

"Scrap is a curse word! We say it when something goes wrong. Scrap is… is…"

The woman sighed deeply. "Why couldn't he call me something nice, like, I don't know, Sunshine?"

"There's an Autobot called that." Breakdown said quickly. "Cheery little fragger if I remember."

Scrap looked up, unimpressed by the response. "Well why did I have to be called 'Scrap' if it's a curse word?"

Knockout touched her shoulder gently. "Give it time, you'll grow into it. Now, why don't we show you to your room?"

Scrap looked up in surprise. "I have my own room?"

"Of course, we all do. The med bay was designed to house three; a ship medic, a field one and the nurse. You'll be getting that room."

Amazed at the generosity, Scrap followed them to a small door out back of the med bay and into a small, remarkably clean living area with its own sofa and dining table while there was also some kind of cooking device on a surface near the other wall. Off from this room were three more doors. Knockout led the human to one in the far corner. "Here we go."

Entering, Scrap turned to look over it. "It's wonderful!" She exclaimed with a smile. The room was reasonably large if a little empty and emotionless and empty pardon a blank sheet of metal coming out of the wall to create a large, almost double bed, with a purple comforter, and a small round plastic room that sort of looked like a bathroom near the door and there was a unmistakeable desk with chair looking out the large window on the far wall that showed the night sky above them. The walls were all grey, like everything else but it warm and clean. She turned and grabbed Knockout by the neck. "I love it!"

Knockout looked back at Breakdown who just shrugged before Scrap let go on her own and he looked down at. He gave her with a smile and winked. "Well, it's all yours. But should warn you…" He knocked on the door beside him. "No lock. We'll try and respect your privacy but this is a warship. Locked doors are not a good thing."

"I'll keep that in mind." She said, still amazed by the room. She'd expected a cot and cell. Not of her own room with an ensuite.

Knockout nodded gently. "Well, I'll leave you to get cleaned up. We'll start work tomorrow. Bright and early, Scrap."

"You know." She said before the door could close behind the door. "I'm starting to like being called that. Night Knockout. Night Breakdown."

* * *

**SL : Well, that's all for now. You can expect the next update… soon. Not saying when because it depends on Rocky and Butter. But for now, hope you enjoy and are waiting for the next chapter!**

**Don't forget to review! And all three of us will be getting you reviews so be sure to put Rocky and Butter in your thanks! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2: One Sided Attraction**

"Knockout." Came an irritated young female voice of a young woman. The red-themed cybertronian turned to look at his pupil as she stopped in the hallway, hands on her hips, clearly irritated.

"What is it Scrap?"

Quickly Scrap flourished her hands into the air and waved them at the vicinity of the hallway. "What is the point in showing me around the ship if you're just gonna tell me what a specific room is and that it's off limits?" she folded her arms in a huff. "Is there anywhere on this ship I _can_ go? Other than the med bay or my room?"

Knockout rubbed his chin for a moment. "Of course there is… you can go… umm… umm…." He suddenly looked quite sheepish as his hand started scratching the back of his head. "Umm…."

"Yeah, I thought so."

The defeated mech sighed. "Look, you might not be allowed… _anywhere_, but you still need to know you're away around the ship. Just in case you're needed in an emergency. It's all part of being a medic."

The woman sighed; she couldn't disagree with that logic. "Lead on."

"So, over there is the rec room where we go to relax and get some energon from the dispensers in the far corner. You umm…" He coughed. "Can't…"

"Can't go in there. Yeah, I know."

The medic sighed as he put his arm across her shoulders, holding her loosely. "Ah it's alright Scrap. It's only been a few days. Trust doesn't come easily, especially in war. It takes time."

The nurse sighed. "Can't I at least see inside some of these rooms? You said that was a rec room; can't be anything dangerous in there right?"

Thinking about it, Knockout nodded and stepped over to the room, pressing a button at the side to open its door. But then Knockout pushed the woman backward into the wall, narrowly avoiding something as it went flying past her. "Ah!" She gasped, looking at what was now lying in the middle of the hallway.

It was an extremely muscular man in a grey vest top and black pair of trackies and trainers. He pushed himself up off the floor and rubbed his head, his hair a neat buzz cut but it appeared to have white highlights running through it, coming down his cheek to form sideburns. He shot a glare towards the door to the rec room. "You're going to get it now bro!"

Scrap slowly looked over his shoulder, looking to see another man in the doorway. He almost appeared identical in appearance to the man on the floor but his hair was slightly longer and totally black and he wore a very neat, formal dark blue uniform with yellow buttons on it as he messed with the cuff of his shirt. "When are you going to learn brother, you cannot take me." The other grinned coldly. "Perhaps if you spent more time practicing instead of slagging off, you _might_ have a slim possibility of defeating me."

The man on the floor suddenly jumped up and lunged at his opponent, going to tackle him by the waist, but, instead, the other man simply grabbed him by the arm and threw him away, back towards Knockout and Scrap.

The pair jumped just at the last possible moment, Scrap tripping up and falling to her knees. Knockout however, remained standing and turned to the battling pair. "Will you two stop messing around! This is the rec room, not the slagging training grounds!"

The one with the highlights huffed, looking at the pair as he stood up. "Ah, if it isn't the doc. You didn't have to come out here looking for me. I'm fine, thanks, I don't need anything."

_Well isn't he a little big for his britches. _Scrap thought.

Knockout grunted. "Don't flatter yourself. I'm not here for you Skyquake. I was showing my new assistant around the ship when you tried to send us both through the fragging wall!"

For the first time, the two moved to look at the woman as she slowly picked herself up from the floor and looked back at them with poorly disguised curiosity and annoyance. The one Knockout had called Skyquake blinked as he looked at her, his dark yellow eyes wide in surprise. "Whoa." He stepped over to her and stood looking down at her, placing a hand on the wall above her. "Who _are_ you?" He said in a sweet voice.

Scrap looked up at him, confused. "I'm Scrap."

"Scrap?" Skyquake questioned, leaning back a little. "Your creator has a funny sense of humour."

The girl frowned and looked away from him. "Look, I was born Eleanor. It was your Starscream who renamed me."

Skyquake grinned. "Born? Eleanor? I see." He turned and looked at his brother. "Hey Dreadwing, this here's a human."

Dreadwing, the more formal looking of the pair glanced at her then went back to checking his cuff of his uniform. "Brother, we have things to do." He turned on the spot and picked something up off a table, holding it under his arm while walking out the room and past the medic and human.

Pulling a face, Skyquake sighed loudly and reached out, lifting up Scrap's face so her eyes looked at him. "I'll be seeing you around cutie. Yo! Bro! Wait up!"

Scrap blinked as they left then looked at Knockout who was just frowning at Skyquake's retreating back before turning to Knockout. "What just happened?"

"Skyquake and Dreadwing. They share a split spark but to be honest they are total opposites anywhere but on the battle field." Knockout sighed as he began leading her down the hallway. "I don't see them much; they are seekers, like to look after each other. Often I get told they are wounded and I have to go looking for them."

Scrap kept up close behind him, her eyes locked on him. "I don't understand. What's a split spark?"

The medic hummed. "Well you know I told you about sparks?"

"They are the… the… physical embodiment of your life right?"

"That's right. Now, when we are sparked… or born to your culture, we are given a spark."

Knockout glanced at Scrap to see if she was following him, nodding at her understanding so he continued.

"Okay, well in case of Dreadwing and Skyquake, that single spark has been split, meaning they are two parts of the same spark. It is a very rare occurrence for our kind. It only happens when a spark is trying to free itself from the Well of All Sparks and accidently brings a second with it, the two then being melded together. The first spark then copies itself onto the second one." To demonstrate knockout merged his finger together and wiggled them. "When they reach a body, the two sparks break away from each other, meaning you get two sparks instead of one." He split his fingers apart in a mystical manner, causing the trainee medic to smile. "Dreadwing and Skyquake share a spark that split when breaking from the femme. Dreadwing was the original part, the first spark and Skyquake was the second."

"So they're twins! And Dreadwing's the older sibling? That makes sense. He sure acts it." Scrap's eyes were shining with new knowledge and a thousand more questions waiting to be answered.

Knockout sighed, rubbing his eyes. "They are both just so irritating to me, never coming in for their check-ups, always fighting on the ship… but they are deadly on the field."

"You said something about them being… seekers? Is that like a Harry Potter thing?"

"Harry what?" He chuckled at her. "No, Seeker relates to our main transport mode. Like I'm a 'vehi', as I'm a driver more than a flyer."

"So that what it is." Scrap's mind dawned with realization as her brain eagerly absorbed the interesting information.

"Yep. You're beginning to get the hang of this."

The nurse smiled at him, her eyes locked on his. She'd only been on the ship for three days but in that time, Knockout had been teaching her all about cybertronian biology, telling her how to do things and what to look out for. He was a great teacher and she had to admit he looked after her, even if he could act like a vain ass. While she was sleeping that first day, he went out and got her a whole collection of things a human would need to survive; a large range of food, bottled water, essentials toiletries and hygiene items. He even found her some clothes to wear, a dark red jump suit like everyone else on the ship but it was a little big for her. She had to fold the arms up to her elbows to stop them slipping over her hands. But considering it was designed for a man, she didn't complain. 

Not only did Knockout look after her physically but he had started a strict training program, teaching her the basics in less than a day and testing her one what she learnt the next. He kept stating he made a good choice with her, as she picked it up quickly, only stumbling over the more alien and complicated things. Then today he came over to her as she was studying and told her to follow him, leading her around the ship on the grand tour and telling her what every single room was and how she couldn't enter them.

Lost in her thoughts of the last few days, Scrap realised she wasn't looking where she was going and was suddenly knocked backwards a few steps by someone coming around a sharp blind corner. "Oh, sorry." Scrap laughed as she looked over to see who she had bumped so rudely into.

But she felt herself grow confused at the person she was faced with. She knew the soldiers all wore armour, thick metal plating that covered the whole body and head according to the person's wants and job but most of them kept it retracted when on the ship, locked up in the small device they wore on the chests. It was the reason they wore such tight clothing as the metal could rub against their skin. The jumpsuits provided comfort against it and only the really 'tough' mechs like Breakdown didn't wear the second skin. Scrap just thought they were stupid as they were the ones coming to medical with blisters.

And even those who had just come back from a mission, they would lower the helmet part to allow them room to breathe and let off heat. This man had his up and had an unusual tinted blank faceplate covering his eyes and features while showing Scrap her refection. His armour was unlike anything she had seen before as well; sharply shaped around the joints and blank of any other markings or details. The only real feature was the dark purple Decepticon insignia on his chest in the retract button.

He stood his face turned to look at her and she could tell he was observing her. Then, without a word, he went on his way, walking down the hall, his steps silent on the metal floor, as if he were a phantom.

She blinked and looked at Knockout. "Who was that?"

"Soundwave." He huffed. "One you'll want to avoid."

"Why?"

"Trust me, he's one you don't want to get close to."

"Why not?"

"Scrap." Knockout snapped, turning to face her and pointing at her chest. "You keep away from him, you hear me. I don't want you anywhere near Soundwave."

The woman fought back the want to smile at his sudden protectiveness over her. "Alright, whatever Knockout."

He huffed then nodded. "Right well then. Now, let's head back to med bay. It's time for you to have some more practice." Arm around her shoulders, he turned her and began walking back towards the medical bay.

When they reached the pristine room, Breakdown was inside busy disinfecting one of the medical tables, rubbing his hands on a cloth as the pair came over. "Typical. I just finish cleaning and you two show up." He pointed at Scrap and huffed. "This should be your job, kid."

"Sorry Breakdown. I'll pull my weight. Promise."

The mech winked and rubbed his knuckles against her hair, mussing it up, much to Scrap's protest. "You better."

"Anyway." Knockout cut in, "Since the place is all clean, it's time for Scrap's training."

Breakdown's golden eyes widened suddenly. "Frag no! Not again! Find some other test subject."

Knockout grinned as Breakdown turned his back quickly on them, kneeling to pick up the cleaning cloth he'd dropped, refusing to be a test subject for the young nurse.

Out the corner of her eye, Scrap saw what Knockout was up to but she didn't have time to warn the soldier before Knockout grabbed a scalpel from a nearby table and stabbed out at his partner, catching him under the arm and slashing across his uniform.

Staggering, Breakdown held the wound under his arm, his blue blood already dripping to the floor. "Ah, you fragger!"

Putting the blade down, Knockout shrugged. "She needs the practice."

"Call a drone then! Don't keep making _me_ her test subject!"

Knockout pushed his hair back. "Oh please, you couldn't expect me to be her test subject? What if she messed up and I got a scar? And I need to check she's doing it right. So, now that you've got a cut, sit down and let her work."

Breakdown just frowned but said nothing, sitting on the side of the table and pulling up the top part of his shirt to reveal the narrow gash. Scrap gave him an apologetic smile but then looked at it. "Umm… it's shallow, hasn't caught anything… serious. I don't think so anyway."

"What do you do then?"

Scrap thought for a moment, looking at Knockout to watch his reaction. "Null it, clean it up then seal it."

"Good. Go on then."

As Scrap reached for a draw and got the things she needed and began to work, Breakdown shot murderous looks at his partner. "I can't believe you Knockout!" He grumbled. "You'd hurt your own partner for a little test?" He grunted sharply when Scrap put a bit too much pressure on his wound.

"Sorry!" She basically yelled, throwing her arms to the air at his reaction.

Behind her, Knockout shook his head with a laugh. "Ignore him, he's being a sparkling. I'm waiting Scrap." He teased, leaning his hip against the table beside behind Breakdown. "Get on with it."

The wounded man glared back at the medic as Scrap began her work, tenderly lifting his arm so she could reach the cut better then dabbed a small cloth with a green liquid around the wound to null it for him. As she did, she took a small mental note that Energon had no smell, unlike human blood, much to the young woman's relief.

While she worked, concentrating on the wound, Breakdown and Knockout began to talk, more like argue, but she hardly paid any mind to the bickering pair. After applying the green gel to the surrounding area of the wound to null the pain and stop the bleeding, she looked down at the small hand sized device in her hands. It wasn't very big but reminded her of those chief blowtorches; just with a pointed nozzle at the top. It wasn't her favourite part of her work but she had to get used to it if she was going to live here. She was still on trial, refusing to do something may only earn her a bullet to the head.

Like its human counterpart, the device worked like a welding torch, superhot as it burnt the skin back together, sterilising the wound and closing it up at the same time. It was very effective and reduced the healing time of a patient but the idea of taking a flame to skin went against most of her training. Worst, if her hand wasn't steady enough; the meld could defect and leave a scar, hence why Knockout refused to let her practice on him. Biting her lip, she pressed her thumb against the switch and prayed to god that she didn't mess up.

Nervous she took a deep breath and began to hold it at the end of the device, watching carefully for the sign that the cut was closed and that she should move it forwards. Wanting so much to prove that she could do it, the redhead held her hand steady and watched as the wound began to seal and hold. It wasn't until the very end that she actually looked at the entirety of her work.

A smile came to her lips. Pardon a small bulge at the end, the mark was perfect and in time would fade to nothing. Pride filled her and she leant back.

"-have to speed up." Knockout mumbled beside her.

"Huh?" Scrap looked up from her work, cocking her head to the side.

Knockout gave an irritated glare and sighed heavily. "I said, it's all well and good going that speed when you have all the time in the world, but this is a war ship. You're gonna have to speed up." He looked at her work and nodded. "But, that isn't too bad. Well done."

Setting down her tools, Scrap smiled then gave Breakdown a loose hug. "Thanks for letting me work on you Breakdown." She said with an apologetic air to her voice.

It took a while for him to understand it, but now hugging was quite normal and Breakdown wrapped his good arm around her. "No problem Scrap."

* * *

**Fade; phew! We are actually on time for publish! Haha! Well there you go everyone! hope you enjoyed it as much as myself Butter and Rocky did!**

**See you next Sunday! **


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Where you belong.**

Stood in front of her desk, Scrap sighed while looking out at the sky before her as the clouds went by, the alien space ship hidden from every type of scanner and form of detection. Slowly her hand reached up to her forearm and she began rubbing herself in a weak attempt to warm herself.

Part of her was glad to be alone at that moment in time while another part wanted nothing more than for someone to talk to, just to get it off her chest. Another sigh and she dropped her head, eyes closed in the moment of self-pity.

"Yo, Scrap."

She turned suddenly and looked to see Breakdown in the doorway to her room, looking around on the floor. "Breakdown? I thought you left already."

"I was gonna but when I got to my ship, realised I forgot my tools. Have you seen them?"

The human groaned and turned back to the window. "What would they be doing in _my_ room?"

The cybertronian stopped looking at the floor suddenly, catching the tone of her voice and blinked, walking over to her side. "Hey, what… what's up?"

Scrap kept blankly looking out the window then dropped her head and reached out to her desk, picking up a flat looking device, similar to an iPad but a lot more advanced. She tapped the screen twice and brought up what she had last been looking at, passing it to Breakdown.

The mech looked down, scanning the page before activating some translation software, changing it to cybertronian so he could read it. The page was a list of missing people. Going over it a few times, he didn't see anything that would justify her mood so he shrugged. "I don't get it."

"I've been here for three weeks now, Breakdown." She said, looking down on the device in his hands. "I wanted to see if someone was missing me. If someone had reported me missing."

Breakdown scanned the list again. No Eleanor. "Oh."

"I don't have any family but… I thought someone would have missed me. I had friends, lots of them. And yet… no one's told the police I've gone missing."

"But… didn't you once say you were running away?"

She turned away and crossed her arms. "Yes but all the same, someone should have noticed. They won't find me here but they should have seen I went missing." She sniffed once. "But… they didn't. No one… no one cares about me."

Breakdown suddenly put the device down on the table. "Whoa, what… what you doing?"

Scrap reached up to her eyes and began rubbing them. "I'm crying." She said softly. "Humans do it when we're upset." She sniffed again as more tears fell from her eyes.

The mech stared at her completely confused but then reached out and held her shoulder. "Ah come on, don't… don't 'break down' on Breakdown."

Scrap chuckled a little but she couldn't stop crying.

Looking madly around the room for something, Breakdown felt more lost now than any time in his long life. He just decided to do what Scrap did sometimes. He wrapped his big strong arms around her and pulled her into him.

It seemed to work. Scrap fell silent and the tears stopped.

Relieved, Breakdown kept the grip tight. "Scrap, you're one of us now and we take care of our own. Knockout and I… we… we promised to look after you. And we will. For as long as you are with us, we will look after you. So no more… _leaking_."

Scrap choked back a laugh as she leant her head on him. "Yeah. I guess you're right."

"Right. Well then, I-" He coughed, letting go of her and looking out the door. "I better get going, Knockout's going to kill me as it is."

"Alright. Take care Breakdown!"

The man smiled and waved before leaving her behind him, disappearing out into the ship. Scrap stood and smiled then looked down at the device. After a moment to think, she shut down the page and returned to her studies of cybertronian biology, leaning back on her chair, her eyes gazing slowly over the information in her hands.

"Hey! Anyone in here!"

Looking up from the work and placed the pad on the side, hurrying from her room, passed the living quarters and into the med bay. "I'm here." She said to the voice. "What's the problem?"

The owner of the voice was already sat on a table, holding his right arm tightly as energon dripped from it. He smiled as she came over. "Ah, hello sweetie. The doc not in?"

"He's out on a mission. If you want to wait for him…."

"No, no, no darling." Skyquake said, still grinning. "I'm _more_ than happy you're going to be looking after me."

Scrap tried not to think about what his tone of voice was implying as she tied her long wavy red hair up above her head in a bun. "So… what happened?"

"Ah, I was just messing around when Dreadwing decided to throw me into a window. Figured I better get it seen to."

Scrap sighed under her breath as she held his arm and looked at the wound. There were a few cuts across his forearm, one of them a little deeper than the others and some had shards of glass stuck in them. Luckily the treatment for this was the same as it would be for a human, just with different equipment. "Right, hold it still."

Her medical training, human and cybertronian, was kicking in and she hurried to grab the right tools and set to work. Gloves on, she nulled his arm with the sticky green stuff and got Skyquake's good hand to hold the small metal tray while she worked carefully to get all the glass out with a pair of tweezers. She said nothing, the work too delicate for conversation but Skyquake had another ideas.

"So how you liking it here?"

"It's fine." She mumbled, pulling out a tiny shard.

"The doc treating you well?"

"Yeah."

"You eating right?"

"Skyquake." She snapped, leaning back up to look at him, arms crossed in irritation. "Will you please just be quiet for five minutes while I work?"

A glaze of amazement crossed his face but then he just smiled, her eyes narrowing as he leant towards her. "And what if I don't… _nurse_?"

Lowering her energon covered gloves, she tipped her head to the side. "Then I won't fix you up. So, what's it going to be?"

He smiled and pulled his fingers across his lips, zipping them shut.

Un-amused, Scrap went back to her work, glad the seeker was keeping his word and staying quiet. With the last of the glass out, she grabbed the welding torch and began jointing the two sides of the skin together. Due to the size of the cuts and position of them, and the fact Skyquake didn't wear a jumpsuit, she then bandaged it up to stop anything getting in. "Right, don't get it wet for at least a cycle." She ordered, already turning away from him to clean up and reset the bay for the next patient.

Skyquake looked at her work for a moment, turning his arm over and over before nodding. "Great." He said, jumping off the bench and watching her from behind.

She could tell he was still there, watching her so she turned and faced him, putting her hands on her hips, making herself feel a bit more confident than she actually was. "Don't you have somewhere to be? You must be a busy man."

Skyquake laughed at the fake teasing tone in Scrap's voice then approached her, reaching out with a thick finger to move a fallen chunk of her hair from her face to behind her ear.

Scrap cursed mentally when she felt her face heat up at his touch and the way his eyes were looking at her, the way he smiled, eyeing her like some kind of meat. She didn't like this guy but she just seemed to always attract his kind.

"Well?" She muttered to him, stepping away from his grip. "I have other things to do you know."

The man stepped forwards again, reaching out for her once more. "But I'd rather be here with you, cutie. And you sure are cute when you blush."

A little intimidated by him, Scrap laughed nervously and scratched at the back of her head. _Man, this guy is persistent_. She thought to herself, trying to think of a way out of the situation.

Skyquake moved his hand to her chin, gripping it gently and holding her to look at him, giving her a charming smile while his other hand went firmly on her shoulder, his grip moving in a brief massaging movement before he winked at her. "But you are right, Hun. You have things to do and I'd hate you to get in trouble for not getting it done." He stepped forwards, using his grip on her chin to ensure she looked at him. "Don't you worry, I'll be around." He said then let go of her, brushing his shoulder gently against hers as he trailed his fingers down her arm to her hand then slipped through her grasp away like sand, walking out of the med bay. "See you later, Hunny."

Frozen in place until he left, Scrap gave involuntarily shiver and tried to calm her blushing cheeks. _Humans or cybertronians, men are JERKS! _She thought madly to herself.

She clicked her tongue and stared at the ceiling before moving to clean up the mess Skyquake had made during his visit.

As she did, she began to think over how strange this all was. She had never been the type of girl to believe in aliens; she had a few medical friends back in the day, nerd friends who wore glasses and talked about Star Wars like it was religion and she would just laugh at them.

Now she was wondering if there actually _was_ a place like that out there. She didn't know now. Everything she ever knew was now thrown to the wind, as if she had to start learning everything all over again.

Back then, if someone told her about Cybertronians she would have laughed and shook her head before probably sending them to psychiatric. But now? Now her mind was open to a whole new world where anything was possible to her.

But one thing was for sure.

Skyquake wasn't finished with her.

~#~

"And… done!" Scrap said proudly as she looked at Knockout, lowering her tools.

Knockout blinked and looked at the device in his hand. "Humm, six minutes twenty three seconds."

The human beamed and jumped, pumping the air. "Yes! New personal best!"

"Yeah but you're still too slow." Knockout exhaled, looking at the drone she had just fixed up. "You need to get it under five minutes before I let you anywhere near a real casualty. For now, you're still stuck on cuts and burns."

Scrap's good mood suddenly vanished and she sank. "I know. But I am trying. I'm practicing every night and I'm doing my best, really I am."

"Did I say you weren't?" The medic questioned, eyes turning to her. "Your skill is getting better; you're just still too slow for me to risk a soldier's spark yet. Fixing drones are all well and good but I need to know you can cope without me looking over your shoulder."

Scrap's eyes fell to the floor. "I'm sorry Knockout. I know it must be a pain teaching me all this."

"Hey." He said, reaching out and lifting her eyes to his. "It's kinda fun teaching you. And I'm glad I've got you." He let her go and bopped his finger on her nose. "But don't forget, Starscream is coming to check on your progress in a few days. You need to be ready. But enough is enough for tonight, its late and you need to sleep." He nodded off towards their quarters and Scrap couldn't help but yawn as she turned to them.

Once past the first door she caught eye of Breakdown lounging on the sofa while watching some violent, blood guts and gore film. She cringed while looking at it then stroked the man's hair from behind. "You'll get nightmares watching that junk."

"Goodnight Scrap." Was the only reply, his eyes not leaving the screen.

Scrap shook her head and turned the other way to her room, entering it and closing the door.

She looked over it for a moment, taking in the little homely things she had added over the last few weeks. The bed was no longer bare and had a several pink pillows and white warm covers; the desk was now covered in trinkets, pens, papers and books as well as some snack foods she kept in her room. She kept it remarkably clean and spotted at once that there was something new.

On her bed was a large bundle, wrapped in dark emerald green paper with a card placed on top which she picked up and looked over. _Thought you'd like it._ She smiled but then frowned and looked it over, seeing that it wasn't signed.

Scrap blinked but sat on her bed and put the package on her lap, opening it up slowly. She laughed and felt herself smile at the sight of her very own medical kit, a black fabric that would sit on her side, fully equip with everything a cybertronian nurse would need; a small version of the wielding touch, bandages, null gel, gloves and some other vital tools.

After admiring the gift for a moment, she stood and placed it on her desk. She'd have to thank Knockout and Breakdown for that tomorrow. Tonight she was just too tired so stripped out of her clothes and stepped into the clear tube at the back of her room and turned on the water, enjoying the warmth before changing into some clothes she kept for bed and jumped into the covers.

* * *

**CA/N: Hey small organic humans! This is Butters again. (AKA Aria-Three) I really do hope your enjoying our project, because we currently are! On a side note. We all know Skyquake had a rather small part in the Prime series, but we've introduced him in here and completely rearranged his character. Hope there's no problems with that! After all, don't the cons need an immature one? •Snickers• anyway. Enjoy this chapter we ****_love_**** feedback so don't forget to review! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4: I should sue for that.**

"Knockout, Breakdown, can we talk?"

The two cons looked up from the table where they currently sat, each one with a mug of energon. Breakdown nodded to the cushion beside him. "Sure, what's up Scrap?"

Scrap pulled a face then sat down. "I… I just wanted to thank you for the gifts."

The pair exchanged a look. "What gifts?"

"You know. the med kit and the necklace. They are both so sweet and I really do like them. But…" she looked back at her door then at the pair. "How did you know I use to paint?"

"Scrap." Knockout said, pushing his mug to the side. "I honestly have no idea what you are talking about."

"But… just now… there's a box of high quality paints and brushes in my room."

"That's not us." Said Breakdown, starting to get concerned by the conversation. "I had no idea you paint."

"And I sure don't know about any necklace or med kit. I thought you'd pulled it together yourself."

Scrap sank back in her seat. _What the pit was going on? _She knew the pair of medics weren't lying to her, they wouldn't do that. "But… if it's not you… who is it?"

After a moment to think, Knockout stood from the table and went over to her door, pushing it open and entering. Scrap and Breakdown followed.

The medic looked all across the room then at the pair. "Is there anything out of place Scrap?"

"Umm…"

"Think carefully."

Scrap did and checked everything in the room before shaking her head. "Nothing, not that I can see."

Knockout didn't appear impressed by her reply but said nothing, looking around the room. Breakdown was also looking. "I can't see anything Knockout."

"I know. Breakdown, have you seen anyone hanging around med bay recently?"

The bulky guy thought, rubbing his chin and looking up as he did. "Umm… no. Nothing out of the ordinary."

"What about you Scrap?"

"No."

Mind running over the details, Knockout lead them out of the room and back to the living space. "So… when do you get these gifts?"

"Well that's what made me think it was you. It was always after you go out on a mission."

"So someone is tracking our movements to ensure he's not seen."

Breakdown suddenly let out a long loud laugh and slapped his hand against Scrap's back, sending her flying forwards. "What do you know, you've got a secret admirer Scrap!"

Blushing a red that could rival Knockout's hair, Scrap's eyes widened. "A… a secret admirer? Me?!"

Knockout nodded but didn't appear as amused by the concept. In fact, he looked angry, with his ruby eyes narrowed and his mouth curled in a tight-lipped frown. "I was worried something like this would happen. Pardon the spider, Scrap is the only thing remotely female on ship."

Scrap turned her head to the man behind her, confused to whom they were referring to. "The spider?"

"The assassin, Airachnid." Breakdown said with a certain glow. "She's been out on a mission for a few weeks now; you'll meet her soon enough though."

"But it's this… strange gift giver that's got me concerned." Knockout grumbled, standing side on the pair. "Scrap, have you noticed anyone giving you… funny looks?"

Instantly Scrap felt a fool for not seeing it. "Skyquake."

Knockout's face practically cracked with the depth of the frown. "_That_ fragger! I should have known he was a…." He bit his tongue to stop himself. "Right, I'm going to have a word with him!"

"Knockout!" Scrap called, stepping over to stop him as he stormed off but Breakdown just held her back. "Breakdown, Skyquake not a bad guy he's just… a jerk."

Breakdown's eyes lifted as he tried to understand the word but then smiled and let her go. "I know Knockout. He's just protective of his stuff."

"His… stuff?"

Realising the wording was wrong, Breakdown rubbed the top of her head. "Well you're his assistant. And Starscream put you in his care. So that makes you 'his'."

"I guess." She sighed, sadly.

The man chuckled again then grabbed her up in both arms and carried her bridal style to the sofas, ignoring her high-pitched complaints, and sat, holding her tight until she stopped struggling and leaned against him.

Her ear pressed to his chest and she began to hear the three strike beat of his spark, the cybertronian version of a heart. Her eyes drifted closed against it and she gave a content sigh, cuddling up in his arms.

Breakdown smiled at her while his thumb ran back in her hair. "You want to know a secret, Scrap?"

"What?"

"I always wanted a little sister."

Eyes opening, Scrap looked up and smiled. "Really?"

"Yeah. And now, thanks to you… I've got one. You might not think it but Knockout and I really care about you, but, I told you before; you're one of us now… and we look after our own."

The human gave a small laugh but continued to lean against him and savour the loving warmth he provided.

"But why is Knockout upset about me getting gifts off Skyquake?"

Breakdown shrugged. "Ah, that's just Knockout. He acts tough but he hates anything messing with his things." He shook with laughter. "You should have seen what he did when a Autobot scout took some of his data! Tracked him down halfway across the planet to get it back!"

Scrap laughed at the idea of some small innocent Autobot being chased relentlessly by Knockout across Cybertron but then closed her eyes again and listened to her 'big brother' as he began telling stories and messed with her hair.

~#~

Scrap hissed painfully as she leant on the wall, rubbing her ankle carefully. "Oww." She said, finding the tender spot again then looked over to the pool of energon that was just lying in the middle of the hallway, no warning sign or notification to it being there.

_Anywhere else I could sue for that. But it serves me right for not looking where I was going. _She thought to herself then sighed, testing her leg on the floor. It complained but didn't give so she began a slower pace back towards medical, limping as she went along.

"Hey, Scrap!"

She turned and looked to see who was calling her. "Oh…" she said, trying not to sound disappointed. "Skyquake." She frowned as he stood beside her. "Umm… didn't Knockout tell you to stay away from me?"

"No." He said bluntly. "He told me to stop sneaking around you. So this is me being upfront." His eyes drifted downwards to her foot. "Anyway, you're limping. You alright?"

Scrap looked as well. "Yeah, slipped on some energon. I think it's just a mild sprain. I should be alright once I rest it for a bit."

Opportunity filled Skyquake as he stepped over and swiftly picked her up, his arm under her legs and the other around her shoulders. Scrap screamed like a little girl and instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck. "Sk…Skyquake! Put me down."

"You just said you need to rest your leg. And humans are such weak things compared to us." He was already walking, holding her close. A smirk was etched onto his face, as he continued to explain. "So I'm just being a gentleman and helping you out."

"I'm fine!" She insisted, letting go of his neck and struggling to get free of his rough grip, but the seeker was too strong.

He even laughed at her. "Come on now Scrap, Knockout would kill me if he knew I'd let you damage yourself further." Then he sighed, looking at her. "You know, ever since I arrived on this planet, I've been fascinated by you humans."

Giving up the useless fight, Scrap just crossed her arms, glaring at the mech. "Really?" She said with a snide tone.

"Yeah. You're so… robust. There are so many different types of you. We only have… three, maybe four types. You… wow, there are so many."

"It's called individuality."

"I know. But before now, I've never had a chance to get to know a human up close. I guess I'm just curious."

"Curious?"

"To learn. You're a whole different species yet you look just like us."

"Externally." Scrap commented. "Internally we are completely different."

Skyquake nodded. "Maybe. But I want to know what else we have in common."

The human smiled. "I might have misjudged you Skyquake." She said, not looking him in the eye.

"You never really gave me a chance." He accused back.

"I guess." She mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"No worries Hun." Skyquake said as he put her down on the ground near the med bay doors. "But if you want to make it up to me; meet me here tonight, eighteen hundred hours."

Scrap thought about it then nodded. "I guess you disserve that, after the way I've acted." She sighed and looked at him with a smile. "I'll be here."

"Great. See you later then." With that, he waved cheerily and walked off, leaving Scrap to limp inside and face Knockout's questions.

* * *

**A/N: Well, another week gone. We would all like to thank you for your hard work and great reviews! **

**Keep them coming. **

**We know you want more Scrap and Soundwave but be paitent. Chapter 7 is only a few weeks away. **

_Next week: Skyquake gets to take Scrap out on a date. Such a shame it doesn't go to plan... _


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5: Disobeying**

Rubbing her arms, Scrap looked up and down the hallway. Cybertronians didn't really work to defined nights and days but there were times when they were less active than others, often going to quarters or barracks to get some energon or some rest. She was currently in the middle of one such time and as such, the place was eerily quiet.

The girl sighed as she looked around her. "Come on Skyquake. I'm not even meant to be out here."

"Sorry hunny." Called the voice as he came over to her. "Dreadwing just would not stop working tonight."

The woman sighed, stepping over to face him. "I was beginning to think you'd stood me up."

"I'll make it up to you." He said with a smile, wrapping his arm around her waist and walking her away from the med bay. "Does the doc know you are out?"

"No. I waited for him to go to bed then snuck back out."

"You rebel."

Scrap didn't feel happy at his comment but she'd agreed to give him a chance so allowed him to walk beside her, even if she did free herself from his grip and hold onto his arm, stopping anything too physical. "So where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Holding onto his arm, the woman sighed, trying to understand where she was going. Then she frowned and began looking at the corridors and rooms they were passing. "Wait… we… we're heading towards… towards the hanger!"

"Ah, you catch on quick."

Scrap frowned at him. "Skyquake, Knockout told me _never_ to go near the hanger! Starscream had some sort of tracker placed in my arm. They will know if I leave the ship!"

"I know. I pulled a few strings with the guy on monitoring duty. He's going to silence the alarm for us." He grinned cheekily. "Come on, Earthshaker is waiting for us."

He didn't give her chance to argue, pulling her by the arm to the hanger. Inside most of the ships vehicles were stood around in there respected slots and various forms. This hanger was mostly for the seekers, those who spent most of their time flying and only going to 'car' mode to land or take off.

Officers like Skyquake were allowed to keep their ships near the front of the hanger by the doors so they could leave at any time needed and Skyquake's, a large jet in dark green and red defining point had its hood open and a ladder propped up against its side to allow the pilot access. Skyquake didn't hesitate in climbing up but stopped at the top. "Come on." He whispered, holding out his hand to her.

Scrap looked back at the hallway, across the hanger. "I don't know Skyquake."

"Look, are you always going to do what Doc Knock tells you?" He teased. "Be a rebel and come on." He beckoned her a little and smiled when she did reach out. She was so light he was able to lift her up with one hand and place her in the rear seat of his jet. "Right." He said, jumping to the front seat and began pressing buttons in rapid succession.

The jet hummed and came instantly to life as the lid of the cockpit closed slowly. "You all strapped in back there?" He said to Scrap who was sat nervously behind him.

"Umm…" she said, pulling the cross straps and clicking them together. "Yeah."

"Good. Then here we go."

The words hardly left his mouth before the jet began moving towards the hanger doors as they began to open. Outside, the dusk sky greeted them and soon they left the invisible space ship behind them but Scrap still turned in her seat as much as she could to see the ship. At just the right angel, you could make out the faint shimmer of the outline of her new home but then the light changed and it was gone again.

Skyquake before her flicked a few controls then took his ship downwards, towards the ground. No human craft would dare fly like this but Skyquake was a master of his trade and desperate to show off.

And Scrap was impressed. Other than a jet plane years ago when she had been going on holiday, she'd only ever been in Knockout car-plane and that didn't count. The world was so different from this point of view.

"So, Scrap." Skyquake asked after a while. "Did you like my gifts?"

Shaken from her amazement by the question, Scrap blinked. "Umm… yeah. They were really nice. I really appreciate the med kit, it's been so handy."

"What about the necklace?"

She shrugged a little. "I… I don't really wear much jewellery. But it's still beautiful to have."

"I'm sorry to hear that. And what about those paints? You know, if you ever need a model, I'd be more than happy."

"That is something." She said, leaning forwards towards him. "How did you know I paint?"

The Decepticon laughed. "Facebook of course. I've been researching you, Hun. I wanted to know what kind of man you like." His head turned a little. "To be honest, your tastes seem a little… dull. Smart, low class men, three of which have cheated on you while pretending to be committed to you."

"Skyquake that's called staking! Don't you cons have a concept of _privacy_!"

"Hey, I just wanted to know you better for our first date."

Her eyes widened and she kicked the back of his seat. "This is not a date!"

"Last time I checked, a date is a meeting of two people, where at least one of them has a romantic interest in the other. Which is what we are having."

Scrap's face glowed bright red. "But…."

"I like you Scrap. And I hope you like me. I'm not like those other guys you've been with. I know how to treat a femme right."

Scrap was about to begin her retaliation when something loud and warning like sounded from the front. Skyquake's bright red eyes narrowed on the screen then he began looking around the glass. "Frag." He swore then hit the throttle, sending his passenger into the rear seat. "Hold on Hun." He yelled before sharply sending his ship to the side.

As he righted again, Scrap caught eye of what he was avoiding. It was another ship, diving from the sky to sit behind them, sleek in design with a red body and white wings. Skyquake growled as he caught eye of him. "Fireflight."

"Who?"

"One of the Aerialbots." He grumbled. "He shouldn't be out here on his own. Bet he's lost again."

Behind them, Fireflight hummed as he looked out the glass at the sky around him. "What a lovely sunset." He mussed aloud before seeing the green jet rearing right and he began heading towards the cliff. "Opps." And he moved to follow the 'con.

The deception bit his lip, thinking what to do. He could take the lone flying out… but a fight could harm his date. And she was already scared as it was. So he decided that just this once, he would let the bot go.

However the daydreamer of an Autobot was for once paying attention and stayed on his tail. And once he had a clear shot, opened fire.

Energon blasts zipped past their heads, trying to collide with anything vital. Scrap screamed when it started and ducked down, covering her head with her hands. The pilot growled as he took defensive actions.

He was running out of options. He couldn't outfly him, the bot was as fast as him and he couldn't risk fighting back for fear of Scrap getting hurt. And his pride would never allow him to call for help or ask the bot to stop for the sake of the human.

So all he could do for now was swerve, dodge and try to out maneuverer the smaller, swifter flyer. Fireflight didn't give up through; he just kept on his tail, matching each move for move.

Scrap had begun to cry at that point, wanting the whole thing to be over. She was a ship's nurse! Now she was in the middle of a dog fight!

Skyquake tried to keep his actions as smooth as he could, saving the girl from stress but it was getting too serious for him to worry about her. The way Fireflight was going, he was going to shoot them out of the sky, human passenger or not.

But there was one thing the con had in his favour. Earthshaker was a tougher ship than Fireflight's flimsy acrobatic plane. His eyes were drawn upwards; they had travelled far enough that now the beautiful dusk sky changed into a steaming rolling blackness of a thunderstorm. "Hang in there Scrap, it's gonna get bumpy." With that, he went up.

In seconds he was consumed by the clouds and one problem was over. Fireflight would never be foolish enough to follow him up there. The clueless Autobot was probably sitting down in his ship admiring the clouds at that moment.

The cheap laugh ran out quickly and Skyquake was forced to concentrate on controlling his ship. The currents and turbulence was already ripping at Earthshaker, ready to tear it apart and leave them both for the AllSpark. Growling, the seeker rolled with the storm and tried his best to either get above it or get through it.

Each attempt was met with the same result. Up and he was forced down. Left and he was spun right. Right and he was tossed further and further right with the storm.

The lightning and thunder was as terrifying as the wind, crashing all around them, threatening them to come closer as it tried to catch them.

One bolt did and tore a large hole of panelling off the right wing, smoke billowing from the damage. Looking at it, the seeker realised he was in serious trouble now and his ship began to fail and sink towards the earth. "Ah! It's no use! We're going down! Hold on Scrap!"

_Dog fight, storm and now crash landing! _Scrap thought as she braced herself, unable to tear her eyes away from the glass as they speed towards the ground, Skyquake trying his best to control the descent.

He managed to bring them out of the dive and pull up but it was too late and they slid along the ground before coming to a sudden, abrupt stop and everything went dark.

The next thing Scrap could remember was someone tapping at the side of her face, trying to get her back to consciousness. "That's it." Said a voice. "Come on, that's it. Atta girl."

Scrap forced her eyes open and felt the splitting agony from her head, looking at Skyquake before her. Then she became aware of how cold and wet she was and looked to see the cockpit was open and the sky was raining heavily on them. The seeker carefully undid her seatbelt and lifted her arm over his neck, easing her out of the seat.

The human tried to climb out herself but her legs were jelly and she ended up slumped further on the seeker. "Skyquake." She managed.

The Decepticon seemed to suddenly change, becoming serious and stern, far more like his brother. "We have to get out of this storm. Fireflight probably saw the crash and the other flying slags will be on their way here."

Realising that the reason for her jelly legs wasn't the crash but something far more painful, Scrap suppressed a shiver of pain when her saviour began walking, nearly dragging her cold weak limp body in the rain and the mud.

She didn't say anything; she just held onto his arm and tried to self-diagnose her condition. It was her right knee that was the painful point. She'd probably banged it hard against something in the crash and now it was swelling up to compensate for the pressure.

Something else was bothering her as well, the headache hadn't faded and she could feel a bump on her head. Even if her knee was the painful one, it was her head she was worried about.

Skyquake didn't appear harmed at all but he was looking around in the dark for somewhere they could hide while also watching for the flyers. Part of him was thinking that if the bots did come, he'd abandon Scrap and leave her for them, purely on the point they could get her help faster than he could. Everyone knew the Autobots had made good strong connections with the human race.

But he put the plan as a last resort. He wouldn't give her up to the Autobots if he could help it. For now he'd look after her.

He looked down on her and his eyes widened. Her arms were shivering and there was something red and thick coming out from a nasty gash in her head. He cursed and picked up the pace, searching for anywhere he could go to get her warm. A large tree stood out in the middle of the field he had been forced to crash in. It wouldn't be much use against the wind but it would offer some protection from the rain.

Sweeping the girl up into his arms, noting how she was too sick to complain, he hurried over and found a reasonably dry patch between the roots, just big enough for him to sink into it with her on his lap.

The trees roots appeared to wrap around them both, closing in to protect them. Grateful the ancient tree was there, Skyquake turned to his arms. Scrap's head was resting on his chest now, her whole body trembling with cold as blood trickled from the forehead down the side of her face and into her hair. In this light, it was hard to see where her red hair ended and the blood started.

His fingers reached up to her cheek and felt the coldness of her skin but her eyes weakly opened. "Sky…" She managed, her voice distant and cold.

"This… wasn't how I say tonight going." He confessed, trying to smile and comfort her. "But you just hang on ok? I got a distress signal out. Someone will come looking for us soon."

"I…."

"Shush. Don't try and talk alright. Just… just close your eyes for a bit."

Scrap's mind suddenly yelled at her not to, that to close her eyes was the worst thing she could do. But the idea of rest was intoxicating. She was cold, tired and in pain so she just placed her head to wet vest top and sighed, letting the unnatural sleep flow over her.

~#~

"-been there!"

"Knockout, shush."

"But I should have!"

"Look, she's not as young as you seem to think she is. If she wants to get out, she'd gonna."

"Yeah well, I've been far too lenient with that flying slag heap! Next time I see him I'm gonna…"

"Hey, look."

Breakdown and Knockout suddenly stopped in their moaning to see that their patient was coming around. Breakdown gave a small smile as he reached over and held her hand. "Hey, how you feeling bug?"

Scrap waited a moment, trying to remember how she was feeling. "I… I feel numb."

"You've been unconscious for over five hours." Knockout commented as he ran a scanning device over her forehead. "You had a major concussion and your leg's not going to be right for a while, even with my medicine."

The human said nothing. She could tell he was angry, the way he didn't look her in the eye, the stiffness in his body and the tone of his voice. "Knockout…" She managed, reaching out for his hand. "I'm…."

"Sorry?" He snapped, staring at her. "You should be! Do you have any idea how worried we were? We had no idea where you were! You could have been killed, Scrap!"

"I was just…."

"I'll tell you what you were doing! You weren't thinking!" he huffed then looked away. "I can't fully blame you. Skyquake should have known better than to take you outside the ship."

"He was just trying to impress me."

The redness in Knockout's eyes grew even brighter with anger as he stared at the girl. "Well you are NEVER to see him again, understood! Even if the fragger is bleeding to death and you're the last medic alive, you are not to go near him. Understood?" He didn't give her chance to say anything as he stormed off, grumbling under his breath.

Breakdown beside her couldn't help but smile as he leant reached over and gently brushed some hair back from the bandaged around her head. "He doesn't mean it. But it might be a good idea to stay away from him for a little while. 'Til he's cooled down."

"I don't even like Skyquake." She whispered to him. "I was just trying to be nice."

Breakdown grinned at her but then looked up as the med doors opened and a tall man in a dark blue uniform entered the room. He stood proudly, looking over them all as if he was better than the lot. "I'm here at my brother's request." Dreadwing stated but then ducked a little as some random tool was thrown at his head by the irrational medic. Remarkably calm, he cleared his throat. "Knockout, I can understand your anger towards my twin but trust me, I am as disappointed at his actions as you are. He never should have endangered a member of this crew the way he did. I have seen to it myself he is suitably punished."

Brushing some of his hair back off his face, Knockout frowned. "Then why are you here?"

"He has accepted full responsibility for what happened but merely requested to know of the human's condition."

"He almost killed her!"

Dreadwing closed his eyes for a moment, composing himself. "I do believe if anyone is to blame then it would be the Aerialbot, Fireflight. Until he turned up, my twin had every intention of it being a pleasant experience for all involved. His actions may even have saved her life."

The statement did not impress Knockout as he threw something across the room. "He never should have endangered her!"

"Knockout." Came a female voice as Scrap slowly lifted herself in the bed. "Will you please just relax?" She looked over at the officer and nodded gently. "Dreadwing, will you please tell Skyquake that I appreciate his concern. A few days and I'll be fine. I hope he wasn't hurt?"

"He was unharmed."

"I'm glad. Please convey my thanks for saving my life."

Amazement drifted over the man for a moment then he nodded a fraction, turned and left the med bay. Scrap sighed to herself then leant back as Breakdown smiled proudly at her while Knockout just grumbled.

_Next week: Time to meet a new face. Clue: Black hair, purple eyes and female. _


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: Arachnophobia**

_Several people have stated that the Spider's optics are pink, not purple. However, in my opinion, they are purple. That and changing her colour scheme to pink and black… just did __**not**__ work for her!_

_Hope you don't mind but it's my choice. Enjoy._

_Also, some people have asked about Skyquake and Scrap. I won't make this a spoiler but this is not a Skyquake and Scrap story. It is a Scrap and Soundwave story._

Airachnid sighed as she walked the halls of her temporary home, the _Nemesis_. Not that she really called it 'home'. More like, a place she must go and loathed returning too. The femme's spark yearned to be out in the world, alone, and doing her chosen and well-practiced trade of poaching and gracefully slaughtering her prey with her own servos. She was indeed a perfectionist in her art, but it took its toll on her body, and thus needed a relatively "safe" place to rest and recharge before returning to her duties as a Decepticon.

On her last mission, she had been wounded after a small crash in her aircraft, her shoulder taking the brunt of the damages, and, if she was right, one of them was infected. It was dangerous to leave unattended for long periods of time.

After quickly reporting her findings to the irritating priss, Starscream, she limped towards Knockout's med bay, hoping it was just the doctor in and not his leering brute of an assistant, Breakdown. If that fool thought he could hide his simpering gazes of want from her, he was sadly mistaken.

Pressing the door open, the spider scanned the room out of habit, and her purple eyes widened at the sight of something new and unfamiliar. A femme, standing by a console, as she quickly and expertly tapped the keys, her head looking up at the important information on the database. Her back was to the door and she didn't appear to have heard it open, too engrossed in her work.

Holding back a hiss, Airachnid flicked her right wrist and a blade slid down from her sleeve, into her grip before she began silently stalking the presumed-Autobot. When she was right behind the femme, Airachnid struck, pulling the femme backwards from the chair which was sent crashing to the floor while she pressed the curved blade, with some gory remains of the last kill still on it, to the femme's neck and sharply twisting her arm behind her back so hard that, if she moved another inch, it would pop out of the socket.

The femme screamed but didn't fight. Instead, she began shaking. Airachnid got a full view of the femme's face, besides her optics, which were squeezed shut, as shock and fear shifted among the femme's expressions. "Don't hurt me!" She begged loudly before beginning to whimper, pain laced her voice with the rough treatment Airachnid was dolling out.

_Pathetic. _Airachnid thought as she sneered and pressed the blade closer. "Oh, sorry." Airachnid mocked. "Does that hurt? Now what's a pathetic little thing like you doing here, hmm?"

She squeezed the femme's arm, sending little rivets of pain up to her socket, and causing the femme to cry out:

"I work here! I'm the nurse!"

Airachnid scoffed, a look of pure disbelief upon her features, though her purple optics retained hints of amusement and glee, much to the little femme's fear.

"You're lying. We don't have a nurse on the _Nemesis, _especially one not of our own. I can hear your organic spark beating with fear and adrenaline. Now…"

"Airachnid!"

The spider turned her helm to look up at the door and saw Knockout, glaring at her. If she didn't know any better, the spider would have said the medic looked scared. "Knockout." She purred. "I found this organic looking at your files."

His left optic twitched, almost comically. "Of course you did!" He yelled. "I told her to! Now let her go, you imbecile!"

Airachnid was dumbfounded, as the femme began to squirm a little under her iron hold.

"Then… she really is your nurse?"

"Yes, and you're damaging my apprentice, now let her _go_!"

Swallowing, the assassin released her grip and watched as the supposed spy, now nurse, hurried away from her and over to Knockout with shaky steps, and stumbling into the doctor's grip. Knockout frowned as he lifted her head by the chin, looking at her neck and the long red mark the blade had made. He gave a barely audible sigh of relief and patted the femme on the head. "You'll be alright Scrap, it didn't break the skin."

Scrap was still shaking as she nodded, not trusting her voice to stay level. When Airachnid took a step forwards though, she turned and ran as fast as she could to the door in the far wall, slamming it shut.

Airachnid easily could have stopped her but the strange behaviour had confused her. "Who was that?" She managed after a stunned, momentary pause.

"That was my nurse."

"But… she was so weak."

Knockout rolled his eyes at the obvious statement. "For Primus sake… she's human. Of course she's weak. But she is smart and dependable. Now, why're you here?"

Still staring at the door, the Spider shrugged. "I think my shoulder is infected."

Patting a med table near him, Knockout out told her to let him have a look. Airachnid sat and pulled down her shirt, revealing her shoulder while her eyes remained on the door. "So, what's her name?"

"Eleanor, but everyone calls her Scrap. Starshit's orders, as she so dubbed him." He was focused on the spider's shoulder intently, mumbling his answers without much thought.

"Does Megatron know about her?"

Looking up from his work, Knockout lifted his brows in amazement. "You mean you don't know?"

"Know what?"

~#~

It took Scrap a while to calm down from her account with 'the spider'. Breakdown spoke so highly of her and yet she had tried to kill Scrap the second she saw her! She shuddered and rubbed her arms violently. It had only been a week since her near death experience with Skyquake and her leg was still recovering from it so running across med bay to her room was now taking its toll. Sitting on her bed she began massaging the joint and her arm, hoping to easy the throbbing when she heard a knock on the door. "Come in." She said, looking to see which of the mechs it was.

But it wasn't. It was a female.

The same one who, just a few minutes before, had tried to kill her.

Airachnid stood in the doorway, trying to look friendly, and without a blade to her throat, Scrap was able to take her in properly. She had seen first-hand how deadly this woman was but strangely there was something about her appearance that wasn't all that terrifying.

She was dressed remarkably human like, in a pair of dark, skin tight jeans with fades patches down the front, her top covered by a low cut, mid drift purple top with a black jacket and a high collar, showing off the studded black necklace around her neck while her hair was jet black with a lots of long dark purple highlights down it, to the side. The style was remarkably spikey and short but arching over one eye, leaving one exposed. And what an eye; a bright, near exotic purple with beautiful makeup to match.

Over all, Scrap saw the woman as the epitome of beauty herself. She could be a model for all Scrap cared. She was that beautiful.

As Scrap looked her over, the spider gave a small smile, her lips pulling back over her teeth which, Scrap was a little scared to notice, had very sharp looking fangs. "Eleanor, right?" The spider said after a moment.

Scrap blinked back to real life at the sound of her old name and looked down at the floor. "I… umm… I go by 'Scrap' nowadays."

"Only because Starscream is a frag head. Can I come in?"

The human nodded and Airachnid entered. Scrap had expected her to just lean on the wall but instead she sat on the bed, lounging against the pillows as if it were perfectly natural. Her eye roamed the room before she nodded. "You got a pretty good room."

"I guess. It's the same as Knockout's and Breakdowns."

"Well mine is smaller… and it smells."

Scrap giggled once before she stopped herself, looking at the ground.

Airachnid must have sensed she was nervous and sat up on the bed. "Hey, I… I wanted to apologize for earlier. I just came back from a mission, I wasn't told about you. It's just… in my line of work, I don't like new faces."

The human rolled her aching shoulder, eyes still glued to the floor. "It's alright, no biggie."

Gently touching her skin, a soft hand reached up to her chin and lifted it, revealing the small, angry mark on her flesh. The spider nodded at it. "Yeah, you'll be alright. I was a little worried it was going to scar." Her elaborate eye lifted to meet Scrap's plain green ones. "You've got such a cute face; I'd hate to be responsible for scarring it."

Being called cute by this beautiful creature made Scrap's cheeks turn bright red, which in turn only made the assassin laugh. "Ah, come on, has no one ever told you you're cute?"

"Not by someone as beautiful as you."

Airachnid's eye widened at the statement but then she chuckled, pouncing on the girl and bring her in for a hug. "AHH! You are so adorable!" She laughed loudly, squeezing the human tightly to her chest.

This wasn't how Scrap had believed the assassin would be but she found herself smiling, leaning against the woman, waiting as Airachnid calmed down and moved her hands to the girl's hair, brushing it back softly. "Say… Scrap?" She asked, pushing her backwards but keeping her close. "I'd… I'd like to make it up to you. You know, for attacking you."

"You don't…."

"I do. I was thinking of taking you clothes shopping." Her eye drifted over the woman's baggy old jumpsuit. "That thing is horrid to look at and it can't be very comfortable."

Scrap looked at her clothes. She'd never thought about them before; they did the job but seeing how Airachnid dressed, she did want something a little more… female. "But I can't leave the ship. Starscream's orders."

A well filed nail popped her on the nose. "You let me worry about Starscream. I've already spoken to Knockout about it and he agrees; you do need some fitting clothes."

"Are you're sure Starshit would let me go?"

The assassin blinked at her and gave a dark chuckle. "I always get what I want Scrap, and with mechs, it's just that much easier. I'll send you a memo when it's time to leave."

Scrap tipped her head to the side as the woman stood up off her bed. "How?"

"What you mean…" Her eyes moved to look down on Scrap's hands and sighed, rubbing her nose. "Honestly, those men. Knockout!" She yelled, leaving the room in a huff, Scrap scrambling to follow. "Knockout, you haven't even given her a comm. link!"

Knockout shrugged as he stood in the living space. "She hasn't got a need for one."

"Well she does now. So get her one." The spider turned to the human who looked lost and confused. "I'll be in touch. Knockout, I mean it."

~#~

"Knockout!" Scrap yelled happily. "I'm home!"

Knockout and Breakdown both looked up from their own personal things to see her as she came into the living area. "Whoa." Breakdown said, his eyes drifting over her frame. "Scrap?"

"Yeah." She said, putting down the many bags in her hands. "What do you think?" she twirled on the spot, letting them see her from every angle.

Gone was the baggy old jump suit, which had promptly been replaced with a pair of light blue jeans that were folded up on her calves, showing off the non-heeled black boots she now wore. She also had a short sleeved white top, a purple silk scarf around her neck, stuck in the middle of the a high folded shirt's collar. She looked both medical and professional but cute and feminine at the same time.

However, the most obvious thing that had changed was that her hair, which until then had been long, wavy and untamed to her shoulders, was now cropped short just under her the nape of her neck with a clear straight style to it and a short fridge over her brow while down the sides were dark blonde highlights, showing off the natural red even more.

She grinned at the pair's slack jaw reaction. "I guess you like it then." She said, running a hand back in her hair. "I never thought about having my hair cut but I have to say… it does suit me."

Knockout chuckled a little, stepping over and brushing her new short hair in his fingers. "It is very nice. Far more practical too."

"I thought so too. No more having to tie it back when I'm working."

"You look good bug."

The medic huffed as he walked away. "I'm just glad that damn spider didn't dress you up like herself."

"No way." Scrap laughed as she picked up the large collection of bags. "Airachnid said I was far too… girly for her style. She kept trying to get me into bright pinks and really frilly things! She did insist on buying me this one dress which… is really cute."

Breakdown laughed a little. "You'll have to put on a show for us bug."

"Maybe another time. Right now, I have to get changed and meet Airachnid in the training room."

Perking up all of a sudden, Knockout looked at her. "What?! Why?"

"She's going to teach me some self-defence moves." Scrap stated, not looking Knockout in the eye. "We stopped at a bar on our way home…."

"What the frag were you doing in a bar?!"

"Getting a drink. Anyway, there was this guy who just wouldn't leave me alone. So Airachnid had to…" She chuckled. "'Teach him' the meaning of no. Then she said I needed to toughen up and that she was going to teach me. So we got some sports clothes and agreed to meet tonight."

Knockout's spark almost popped at hearing what had happened, as the girl disappeared into her room to change, he was stuck half way between telling her no and allowing it. He knew she was weak but teaching her to fight could be a really bad idea. But not teaching her how to defend herself could be even worse. At least if she could defend herself, she could buy time for others to come to her aid. But defence training would take her away from her medical training, the reason for her being here. Being defenceless would make her more of a target, but who knows what the spider would teach her? His apprentice could get hurt.

"Scrap, I refuse to let you train with Airachnid." Knockout finally growled.

Breakdown looked up from his TV show at him with a grin. "Knockout, she left half an hour ago."

_Next week: Things get a little touchy between Scrap and Skyquake. And not in a good way…_

**A/N: Thanks everyone for the suggestions, we are looking into them and feel free to add more.**

**Please Review! See you next week! Love you all! **

**And Rocky, you are the best! You are the best of the best darling! Keep it up! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7: The Unlikely Hero**

Unfortunately, due to her trade, it wasn't long until Airachnid was sent off on another mission, so for the remainder of her known time on the warship, the spider femme usually spent her freedom in the medical bay talking to the curious and intuitive organic femme named Scrap. Knockout didn't openly protest much, as long as Scrap got on with her work and the pair were always in his sight.

When Scrap's shift was over, the duo would go to the back room and chat some more while Scrap figured out what to do for her dinner. She had been amazed when, while eating some, quite delectable, German chocolate ice cream, Airachnid had jumped out, from the ceiling, much to Scrap's astonishment, and stole a very large bite of _her_ ice cream!

Airachnid then stated that, while she didn't get any essential Cybertronian nutrients from human food, she could taste it and did enjoy certain foods; especially ice cream.

After dinner, they would then go off to the training rooms so Scrap would attempt to learn some defensive techniques, but often the pair just ended up gossiping of life in and around the Decepticon warship.

They never left the ship again, but Airachnid still loved nothing more than to come into Scrap's room and dress the human up, playing with her like she was some kind of giant doll. A little annoying, in Scrap's opinion, but most times the attention felt nice, and Airachnid, as she found out, truly was a model in disguise, a true fashionista.

Unfortunately, a week had come and gone and Airachnid was sent off on her next mission. Scrap was at the docks to see her off and smiled sadly. Apparently Airachnid often went away for months at a time, with hardly any contact with the ship. They may have got off to the wrong foot and only known each other a week, but they had become really good friends.

The Cybertronian appeared as upset to be leaving as the nurse. "Don't you worry." She said as the pair embraced. "I'll be back before you know it."

"Alright." Scrap whispered into her shoulder, trying not to cry. She didn't realise, until meeting Airachnid, that she was completely surrounded by men and having someone like her, had made her feel like a person, not just an organic or nurse trainee.

But this was war and Airachnid had a job to do. So she climbed into her helicopter, 'the Black Widow', waved goodbye after placing her headset on, and soon disappeared, leaving Scrap with an aching heart.

That quickly changed as a new presence joined her in the docking bay. "Hey hun!" Skyquake chuckled as his hand collided with her shoulder. "Wow, you look hot with your hair short!"

Scrap sighed as she rolled his hand off her shoulder. "Go away Skyquake, I'm not in the mood." She deadpanned as she exited the bay in long, purposeful strides.

The seeker didn't seem to get the hint, or didn't care, either one was really an option, and began following her. "Ah come on, you're not mad about the crash are you? It's been two weeks."

"I'm not mad, Skyquake, I just want to be on my own."

"Well perhaps you can be on your own in my quarters."

Scrap froze as she walked then turned to face him. "Look, I'm not interested alright! So why don't you just leave me alone!"

His lip curled a little, something coming alight in his crimson optics. "Wow, I see the spider has rubbed off on you."

"And you're rubbing me the wrong way. I mean it, leave me alone!"

She turned again to storm off but the man grabbed her from behind in a vice like hug, crushing down on her with his body weight. "Come on now Scrap, don't leave me hanging."

The human had just about had it with this head strong mech and began struggling against him, wiggling to get her arm free before slamming her elbow into his nose just as 'the spider' had taught her.

It worked, she got free of Skyquake but it didn't appear to faze him as he quickly grabbed her arms and used them to pin her up against a wall. That was when Scrap realised she still had a lot to learn and how stupid it was to engage the seeker. He was far stronger, faster and easily managed to subdue her. The flyer seemed to reach the same conclusion as he leant close to her face. "Well, well Scrap, I never thought you'd like it rough." He chuckled but the humour in him was gone.

She's attacked him and he wouldn't allow anyone to get away with that. He could nearly smell her fear as she trembled under his gaze. _Beautiful_. He thought to himself

His free hand grabbed the side of her neck in a not so friendly manner, his thumb touching the bottom of her lip. He leant even closer to her, eyes narrow. "I think I've been very patient with you, Scrap." He said, his grip on her throat increasing, his nails digging into her skin.

Her pulse was quick and her breathing shallow as she came to realise how much trouble she was really in. "Skyquake I… I just…."

"Just what?" He hummed, leaning over until his nose touched her skin. "Just thought I would forget you trying to hurt me? After all I've done for you? You want to go and hurt me?" His grip increased a little more. "Well, bad girls like you need to be dealt with, don't you?"

Scrap's face tensed up as she moved her hands to try and get free but to no avail, her mind begged her to try harder, to claw him, bite him. Something.

She growled then coughed under the choke hold on her neck. "Let. Go."

Skyquake laughed and Scrap took desperate measures, she lifted her foot up with all her might and kneed him right in the groin.

Skyquake's hands released the redhead to cup the area and leaned forwards, the expression of agony scribbled all over his features. Scrap was stunned that she had actually managed to do it and stood in shock for hardly a second before she took off running.

She didn't get far.

She was grabbed roughly by her arm and tossed harder than before into the grey walls, feeling her body shudder at the process before Skyquake resumed his position over her, this time pushing her up against the wall so her feet no longer touched the floor while applying crimping pressure onto the human's neck. "You _glitch_!" Skyquake growled, his optics glowing with hell's fire.

Scrap almost cried when she saw a strange form merge from behind the seeker. Looking to see who it was, her eyes locked onto Soundwave's featureless visor. She wasn't sure if he could see her but she begged with all her heart for him to help her.

On seeing that her eyes were no longer on him, Skyquake snapped his head around. His throat produced a rough scratchy snarl as he eyed the communications officer, his grip tightening around Scrap's neck. "Frag off, mute."

Soundwave was bothered none by the comment, he simply stepped forwards and lifted his arm, showing that energon was dripping through the cracks in the plates of his armour. Skyquake looked down at his cut and shrugged. "Knockout can take care of that."

He was met by more pride breaking silence as Soundwave moved his finger to point to Scrap, the human's eyes lit up hopefully, but Skyquake's grip on her did not move.

When the black haired seeker made no move to release the woman, Soundwave took another step forward, inches away from the stronger man's face, his blank visor mirrored Skyquake's face. Again Soundwave pointed at Scrap.

With a huff, as well as a menacing snarl, Skyquake dropped Scrap and she hit the ground, falling immediately to her knees, clutching her throat and breathing in the sweet, welcoming oxygen. When she looked up, Skyquake was gone but Soundwave was there, his visor looking down at her. Slowly he turned his hand over and held it outstretched to the woman.

Shaking from the torment of her attack, Scrap gingerly took the gloved hand, allowing Soundwave to pull her to her feet but the action just made her lungs hurt and she coughed, rubbing at her neck. When the fit stopped, she spotted the small drops of dark energon on the ground and looked to see Soundwave's arm was still bleeding. She coughed a little again. "Your arm." She croaked and took hold of it without a second thought, looking it over. Due to the overlapping nature of Soundwave's intricate and unusual armour, she couldn't see the cause but the amount of bleeding showed it would need dealing with in a clean environment. She looked up at the visor and saw a perfect reflection of her own face looking back at her.

Her eyes drifted to her neck and could already see she was going to have a very large bruise across it. Parts of it were already darkening.

Soundwave moved his head, catching her attention and she nodded. "Come on." She smiled and held his wrist as Scrap directed Soundwave, who made no move to remove his arm from her grasp, towards the med bay.

As they walked, it was remarkably comfortable, he didn't make a sound but that didn't make her feel awkward, just that he was lost in deep thought and she wondered what he was doing behind that mask.

She only let go of him when they reached the elevator and asked for level 5. Soundwave kept walking on his own beside her until the medical bay came into view.

Stopping just outside it, Scrap coughed and rubbed her neck, feeling as if Skyquake still had his grip around her neck. Then a second hand appeared and lifted her chin to look up at the faceless mask. She wasn't sure if he was looking at her or her neck but then the figure simply nodded once both to her, and past her.

Stepping inside, Scrap didn't even say anything before Knockout rushed to her. "What happened?!" He snapped, looking at the broken veins under her skin before forcefully pulling her to a medical table and making her sit on the edge of it. "Breakdown!" Knockout yelled, his tone sounding desperate.

"Yo!" Was his reply, as Breakdown stepped from another room, his posture slumping. That is until he saw the bruise on Scrap's neck and instantly he straightened, looking for whoever was responsible and then over to Soundwave who stood unmoving at the doors of the bed bay. He grit his teeth and headed over to Scrap.

Knockout was fuming as he checked over the human before spinning in place, his eyes met the emotionless mask and his eyes narrowed. "You-!"

"It wasn't him Knockout!" Scrap managed to pipe up, her voice hoarse as she went to stand up, only to be held back by her 'big brother'. "He saved me!"

Soundwave stood unmoving for a moment but then there was the sound of static as a voice played from Soundwave's mask.

_"Well, bad girls like you need to be dealt with, don't you?"_

Knockout's eyes widened. That was clearly Skyquake's voice.

_"Let. Go."_

And that was Scrap's scratchy reply.

Taking a breath, Knockout turned to Breakdown, issuing a silent command.

With a nod, Breakdown released Scrap's shoulders as he'd been holding her and brushed past the communications officer, his fists balled, his yellow eyes narrowed.

Scrap sighed to herself then rubbed her neck at the pain it gave her. Skyquake had one hell of a grip. She was going to be sore for a while from this. If Soundwave hadn't saved her, she would probably be dead now.

Blinking, she looked up from her lap where her head had fallen, mouth open to thank the masked man but the med bay was empty pardon herself and Knockout who was talking a mile a minute, trying to get details from her.

But Scrap just stared at where Soundwave had been and felt a smile pull on her lips. She'd thank him another time.

~#~

Physically, Scrap recovered in just a few days, her voice was back in just a few hours and the bruises did fade away within a week. The mental trauma was another matter. She was suddenly so jumpy around noises, as if scared the seeker was sneaking up on her.

Knockout and Breakdown had taken to keeping an eye on her at all times now, never leaving her alone. They took it in turns to leave on missions, ensuring one of them was around to protect her.

Scrap got the impression that while Knockout's warning to the offending Cybertronian had been spoken and harmless, Breakdown's had been more physical as when he returned, he was complaining of a pain in his shoulder. If anyone could take Skyquake on, it was perhaps Breakdown.

It made human blush to think he had got into a fight because of her.

But Skyquake either hadn't learned his lesson or was trying to make up for what he'd done as the random gifts had started again. Daily the three medics would come into the med bay at the start of the day and find expensive and beautiful gifts, each with a note addressed to the human. Knockout and Breakdown saw to their disposal immediately, often without even opening the boxes.

A week of this went on and Scrap could feel herself wrestling with what was going on.

"Hey."

She looked up from her mulling just in time to see Breakdown join her in the living area, moving to sit beside her. She smiled then shifted to lean on his arm, eyes closed as he wrapped his arm around her back, holding her close. It was becoming a bit of a habit for the two to sit like this but often while watching TV. Today they were just silent.

The big muscular mech knew when to talk and when to be silent and was oddly patient when needed.

Scrap sighed in her own time. "I just don't get it." She said at last.

"Get what?"

"I use to feel so safe here. Yes I know it's a war ship. Yes I know you guys are strong enough to break my neck without even trying. But I still felt safe. Now… I'm too scared to be alone."

"You're not like us, bug." Breakdown told her. "You're not a fighter. You've got too soft a spark. So it's natural this has rattled you."

Leaning on him a little more, Scrap closed her eyes. "But I shouldn't. I should be tougher than this. And I shouldn't let it interfere with my work. I mean, I've been through worse than this."

The statement confused Breakdown but he guessed it had just slipped out. "Well, Knockout and I have been thinking. And we think there is a way to make Skyquake stop."

"How?"

"Well, there are only two people Skyquake will listen to. And one of them is Dreadwing. So if you ask him to tell Skyquake to stop… we're sure he will."

Scrap hummed a little, resting against him. "Do you think it will work?"

"Yeah. But you will have to convince Dreadwing. He's not the easiest to get on your side."

The human said nothing but let out a little sigh. She couldn't keep going like this. She had to make it stop.

_Next week: Scrap finally takes a move to stop Skyquake and gets to put her foot down with a stubborn mech._

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to everyone who's been reviewing! We really love to get them so keep them coming! Currently writing Chapter 20! **

**See you next week! **

**Also, Please go and read Aria and Fade's story 'You're Not Alone'. Its the story of our OCs. Please? **


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8: Dealing with Problems**

"Commander Dreadwing!"

The bold formal seeker stopped as he walked and turned to look at the owner of the voice. Normally he would never pay attention to those who randomly called him in the hallway; he liked to have people come to him at designated time slots. But he couldn't ignore the female voice.

The nurse, wearing a long black skirt and white shirt nodded politely as she stood before him. "Commander, can I have a quick word?"

"On what subject?"

"Your twin, Skyquake."

_This human and my brother. _He internally groaned. It wasn't a good mix and he decided this conversation wasn't for the hallway. "Follow me." He ordered then began walking down the hallway, Knockout's adopted sparkling behind him.

Soon he came to a large empty room, one of the war rooms spread across the _Nemesis_. With the door closed and the lights on a dim setting, Dreadwing nodded to the human. "What do you wish to discuss?"

Scrap swallowed as she faced him. Pardon hair and uniform, the pair were near identical. Even the waves of strength coming off him were the same. Actually, perhaps Dreadwing's were slightly more than Skyquake's. "I was just wondering if you could ask him to leave me alone."

"Why should I concern myself with your personal problems?"

"Because it's not a personal problem."

Dreadwing's eye brows twitched. "Explain."

"Well…" She said with another sigh. "I'm sure you know that Skyquake… umm…."

The seeker's nodded a little. "I am well aware that my twin attacked you. The whole ship is aware of what happened."

"Oh." Was all Scrap could think of saying, feeling a little ashamed that everyone knew about the situation. "Well… since then… I've been suffering from a level of anxiety that it is going to happen again and it's been affecting my work as a medic. I haven't been able to concentrate on my work because I'm always checking over my shoulder for him. Not to mention that because of their nature, Breakdown and Knockout have both been neglecting their duties to protect me. I wish I had the strength to tell them that I don't need it but… I do. I'm honestly terrified of him sneaking up to finish the job."

"I was under the impression that my twin has been attempting to make up for his actions?"

The girl nodded. "He has been sending me gifts but to be honest, it's just making me even more uncomfortable."

A silence filled the air. "And what do you want me to do about it?"

"I would really appreciate it sir, if you would tell him that if he wants to apologise to me, to make up for what he did, then he could just leave me alone to get on with my work. It would be best for all of us if he just kept his distance from me."

Dreadwing lifted his eye brow a little as he looked down on her, his back straight and proud, thinking it over then nodded. "I shall tell him of your request and see to it that he follows it."

Eyes wide, Scrap looked at him, amazed that he would agree so easily. "Really?"

"Your work as a medic is more important than my brother's _attempt_ at courting you."

Scrap almost chuckled. She had a feeling Dreadwing didn't like his twins unnatural attention in her as much as she did. But she kept her face straight and nodded. "Thank you commander."

"If that is all then I will take my leave."

Scrap nodded and watched as the seeker left the room. When the door was closed, cutting her off from the rest of the ship, Scrap sighed and leant back against the table in the middle of the room. Brushing her fringe back out of her eyes, she thought over how much easier her day would be if Dreadwing was able to keep to his word.

As she stood in the silence, she began to get the strange feeling that she was no longer alone. There was a noise in the air, a gentle, soft tapping. But the only door to the room hadn't opened and she turned slowly to look over the room and saw that there something moving at the very rear of the room.

"Hello?" She called. "Who… who's there?"

The noise that had drawn her attention stopped and she caught a glimpse of something reflective in the dark corner of the room. Stepping towards it, she felt herself tense at the possibility of danger. "Show yourself."

As she stepped closer, she realised the reason the person wasn't speaking, was because this person didn't speak. "Oh… Soundwave." She laughed a little at him. "Oh, I thought you were… oh never mind."

The communications officer stood silent for a moment but then went back to his work, tapping away at a computer he was stood next to. Scrap watched him for a moment then sighed, thinking back to the last time she saw him. "Umm, Soundwave, I… I wanted to thank you for your help last week. I never really got a chance to say so on the day."

Soundwave didn't change, continuing at the same pace as before. Scrap chuckled, leaning on the wall. The silence was sort of comforting to Scrap, the only sound being Soundwave's typing. With her eyes closed, she just enjoyed the sound and the silent company, thinking back to how he saved her last week. "How was your arm? I never got to see to it before."

The tapping slowed a little but then returned to its old tempo. Scrap looked at him closely, judging the condition of his arm. When she really looked, she could see that his right arm, the one she had been using before, was slower, lingering behind the other. It was clear he was still hurt.

Her hand reached out to his arm, aiming to stop it from moving but Soundwave just pulled it out of her grip.

Scrap grunted as he broke away from her. "Soundwave!"

The armoured man carried on, not looking or listening to her.

Stubbornness had always been a very strong trait in Eleanor and perhaps it was even stronger in Scrap. She crossed her arms as she tried to think, her head down as she tried to remember a few weeks ago when she and Knockout had been out on a random patrol, checking her knowledge of the ship when they came across a 'drone' who was bleeding but too stubborn to accept help.

Knockout had used a code. He said something that made the drone listen and forced him to accept aid.

Scrap closed her eyes, trying to think. "Protocol… nine point… six… no, five!" She looked at him and grinned in a cold hearted manner. "Soundwave, under protocol nine point five, I order you to report for medical treatment."

The officer froze for a moment then turned his head toward her. He looked at the girl who just stared back at her own refection. Normally Soundwave's silent attitude to people would freak them out and they would back down. But not Scrap. She just huffed loudly and shifted her weight from foot to foot. "I'm waiting."

The mask flickered a little. "_I'm waiting." _

The sound of her own static filled voice made her flinch a little but she just smirked. "Oi! Don't pull that one on me. Now, are you going to let me see your arm or not?"

"_Or not_."

Scrap growled at his continuing defiance and stepped forwards until she was almost on top of his toes, looking up at his visor. "Look, Princess, you can either let me see your arm here and now, or I can get Knockout and make HIM see to you. Your choice."

_"Look princess. - Don't pull that one on me."_

"You think I'm joking?" She said, calling his bluff. "I'm sure he will be very pleased to hear you disobeyed a medical order. I might only be a nurse but I'm still a medic. So, final chance, what's it going to be?"

The dim light reflected off the glass as the pair stood stone still, staring into each other.

Then Scrap felt something move beside her and looked down to see Soundwave presenting his arm to her. Proud she had won the battle of will, Scrap looked down it his arm. "Well." She said to him. "The bleeding has stopped but I really could do with seeing the actual wound." She looked up to his mask. "I need you to retract your amour Soundwave, so I can see it."

Silence.

Frowning, Scrap looked up at him. "Come off it Soundwave, this is serious. If it gets infected, it'll be my fault. So just do as I tell you."

He didn't move.

"This is getting old." She sighed and reached out her hand for the deception insignia on his chest, aiming to retract the plating herself.

As she got close, she was stopped and gasped. Soundwave had lashed out and grabbed her wrist. Her body instantly searched for pain but she didn't find it. He held her, even when his armour gave him a razor sharp grip, he didn't hurt her. He had total control over how much pressure he applied.

The action amazed the young woman. "S…Soundwave?"

He held her, unmoving, not making a sound, for about a minute then let her go, moving his hand to the offending arm and began messing with the joint.

Then, with a small click, the plating began moving, pulling back to his elbow but stopped, not going any further. Blinking at the display, Scrap shrugged. "I guess that works too. Didn't know they could do that but… anyway."

With the armour removed, she could see what was underneath. His whole arm was covered in the second skin, but it was abnormal to see that even his fingers were covered. However, in the middle of his arm was a makeshift dark grey bandage which looked like some old rag that had just been wrapped around it. "Oh honestly." She grumbled, reaching into her side bag for a pair of fabric scissors, using them to cut the bandage away. Carefully, she looked at the cut. It was reasonably deep and the energon had just been left to clot and the edges were beginning to turn yellow with infection.

The nurse huffed. "Would it have killed you to stick around and let me see to this last week? Now look at the mess you're in." She held his wrist and pulled him away from the darkness to stand under one of the lights.

Once there, she began emptying her side bag on the table. The wound was old so she had no need for the null gel and instead turned to a yellow steriliser and some cotton wool like material. "Well?" She sighed, beginning to dab at his arm, holding him still by the wrist. Slowly the energon began to turn back to liquid and seep over his jumpsuit but Scrap cleaned it up.

Soundwave watched her every move but did not react to her actions as she cleaned his wound then took the fabric scissors to his uniform, cutting it as little as she could to get closer to the wound.

She blinked, fascinated by the small fragment of skin she would now see. Soundwave's skin was remarkably well tanned, strange for someone who seemed to stay inside and had thick armour on all of his time. Shaking herself a little, she turned to the table and picked up the green nulling gel, rubbing some in around the cut. She waited a few seconds then looked up from her work. "Is that working yet?"

Soundwave nodded and Scrap picked up the smaller welder and held his arm still once more as the welder warmed up before beginning her work. Her fear from the device was gone, months of practice had remove it so she was now happy and fast in completing the work.

"There we go Princess." She said as she began wrapping it in a neat, clean bandage. "Now, keep it clean while the meld heals and if you can help it, keep your armour…" she didn't finish her sentence before Soundwave's plating snapped viciously back into place. She frowned up at him but as her work was done, she had no reason to complain. Allowing the wound to breath would just reduce any pain and Soundwave didn't appear bothered by that at all.

Repacking her kit as it hung on her side, Scrap gave a small sigh and looked up from to see Soundwave was already back at his computer station, typing quickly.

The human huffed and stepped over to his side, hand on her bag. "Look, next time you get a cut, don't be so dam stubborn and let me help you. Or I'll tear that bloody visor of yours off and punch you! Maybe then the little frog will turn into a prince!"

Nothing changed.

The human grunted then turned on the spot and walked off, planning to go back to her room and await her next task.

As the door closed, Soundwave stopped in his work and looked down at his arm, retracting the armour once more and staring at the bandage, flexing his fingers for a moment. Then he went back to his computer and deleted about five lines of nonsense from where he had just been hitting keys to avoid looking at the human.

Beneath the mask, a lip curled up in a smile.

_Next week: The true leader of the Decepticons is revealed._

* * *

**A/N: I am so sorry everyone for the late chapter. I… *ahem* went out for a Halloween party on Saturday and got really, really drunk and spent most of Sunday under the covers nursing the hangover from hell! Sorry! **

**So to help make up for it, I'd like to ask;**

**What kind of romantic date would you like to see for Scrap and Soundwave? Off ship and in the human world. **

**Also, do you like the cover picture? I had it commissioned by 'M-Hourglass' on Deviantart. I think she did a wonderful job! It looks absolutly amazing.**

******Don't forget to review and see you next week (Don't worry, I'm not going out again so it should be on time ;D) **

******Oh and Happy Birthday Neon**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9: The True Leader of the Decepticons**

In the most undignified position, Scrap was knelt on the ground, reaching out at full length for a pen that had rolled under a cabinet. "Come on…." She mumbled, stretching for it. "Come on… come here."

Her fingernail caught on the edge of the pen but then it just flicked further away from her grip. Grunting at the arrogant pen, she stood up and looked down at the controls. "Fine! Stay under there for all I care!" She yelled then kicked the metal before hopped backwards, rubbing the tip of her foot. "Oww! Frag that hurt!"

As she hopped, she caught a glimpse of someone behind her and blinked, forgetting her pain. "Lord Starscream?" She said, amazed when Starscream stopped and looked at her as if he had been caught in the act of something like a naughty child.

Scrap tipped her head playfully to the side. "Can I help you my lord?"

The seeker smiled a little at the address then pulled his coat straight. "Is Knockout around?"

The woman frowned at him, more out of confusion than anger. "Umm… no. He's out on a mission… as you ordered." She added, waiting while trying to guess what he could want.

He was acting very strangely, looking around all the time, checking the sides of the medical room so she stepped forwards and held out her hand to him. "Can I be of any help?"

"No." He snapped. "I just… wanted to speak to him about medical supplies."

"Well I can do that." She said with a smile, stepping out from the side. "What kind of information are you looking for?"

Again, Starscream appeared caught off guard and made a strange unsure sound. "Umm, I…." Then he coughed into a fist. "It can wait until Knockout has returned."

"What? Don't you trust me?" The woman stated crossing her arms. "Last time I checked, you agreed for me to be part of the medical team. Knowing what supplies we have is one of my duties. So what do you want to know?"

The Decepticon leader stood staring at her for a moment then huffed. "It can wait."

"How on earth did you become a leader if you can't trust people?"

That was the moment when the med bay was suddenly filled with a large constant alarm, unlike anything Scrap had heard before. "What the-." She yelled, looking over at the far wall where the noise appeared to be coming from.

She knew there was a door there, basically cut into the wall, near invisible to the natural eye. She'd never seen it open but now there it was small gap between the wall. Suddenly Scrap realised where she'd heard the alarm before. It was a heart monitor, indicated a problem.

"Come on!" She yelled to Starscream and ran over to the room, throwing the door open and looking inside.

The room was large, white and clearly hygienic private room, a medical table in the middle while around it were several large complicated looking machines, hooked up to a body on the table. Lying on the table in the middle of this private room was a figure that could put anyone on ship to shame. He had wide shoulders, a broad exposed chest and an overall dark commanding face, even so with him appearing to be peacefully lost in his coma. He appeared to have an old deep scar down the right eye, his short hair a dark silver, half from age, half from colour while also coming down in a neat beard that boxed around his jaw and chin. His muscles were huge, wrestler huge and thick and firm looking as tree trunks. Strong blades rose from his shoulders as part of the armour remained across him, complemented his natural form but also increasing its deadliness. The armour itself was a dull grey colour with sharp pointed edges, deadly in every element.

Scrap felt her breath hitch and run over to the form, looking over his body. There was a very large gash across his exposed chest, the signs of several melded attempts to close it but they all appeared to have reopened. The one currently holding his chest together was also beginning to give, fresh energon seeping from the edges.

"Who is he?" She asked Starscream who was following her in while her eyes tried to work out what was wrong.

Starscream was stood at the side, looking at the body with a deep frown. "Lord Megatron. He's the leader of the Decepticons."

Looking at the body, the woman hardly registered what he was saying as she began reattaching several loose cables to the body. "I thought you were the leader?" She said, off handed as she worked, trying to get everything right. She'd only ever done this kind of thing in theory and applying in practice it was not easy.

The '_leader'_ growled at her, watching every move she made. "I am his second. I'm only leader in his illness." Suddenly his eyes lit up and he looked back at the nurse, reaching out and grabbing her hand as it worked. "Scrap, you don't understand, he's a cold, sparkless creature. Even if you help him, he will kill you when he recovers. I at least allow you to work here, to live as one of us. He will show you no mercy."

"So?"

"So no one would know if you just… stopped."

Scrap's eyes widened at the idea of what he was recommending. "What? You mean… let him die?"

"It is inevitable anyway. His wounds are too serious; Knockout has tried everything and these machines are all that are sustaining his spark. It would be painless just to leave him as he is."

"That's murder!" She snapped at him, fighting a want to slap his face. "And I don't care who he is, what he's done and what he will do but I took an oath to help those in need!"

Starscream frowned, looking over his lord, thinking over his options. His plan had failed and he couldn't recover it without revealing himself. Energon boiling, he stepped towards his lord. "Of course, you're right. Here, let me help."

Scrap was remarkably surprised that he knew exactly what was wrong, which wires had come loose and where they were meant to be. It was almost as if…

She shook herself for thinking such a way. Between the two of them, Lord Megatron was soon stable again. Wiping her forehead on the back of her sleeve, the woman nodded. "Thank you Starscream, you really helped me there."

"Hr." He huffed, turning and leaving the room.

Scrap shrugged herself as he walked away and looked back at the comatose lord and thinking over his condition. Fortunately Knockout, like many doctors, was a creature of habit and kept everything in the same place, no matter the room and she soon found Lord Megatron's notes.

Apparently, Megatron had been involved in an explosion which would have killed anyone else but he had been in a coma ever since. She hummed to herself, looking over the details until hearing the med bay main doors open.

Before she could move to see who it was, Knockout came running into the room at full speed, his eyes wide with fear but as he looked over the scene, he calmed in surprise.

His nurse moved her eyes down to the file in her hand as she leant on the wall. "It's alright Knockout, he's in a stable condition now."

"Scrap? What… what are you doing in here?"

"Looking after a patent who, according to these files, was in this condition three weeks before I even arrived on the ship." Her emerald eyes snapped up to him, unable to hold in her frustration any longer and slapped the pad down on the table at her side. "If I had known there was someone here, I would have kept an eye on him while you were out on your missions. But instead you left him unattended!"

Knockout held up his hands in a defensive stand. "Look, Scrap, it's not what you think. He's…"

"The leader and founder of the Decepticons, Lord Megatron." She said, tipping her head a little. "But that is no reason to leave me out of the loop. He is a patient. Did you ever think to ask me for help?"

"Scrap, I… I just didn't know… if you could cope with this level of injury."

The nurse frowned and narrowed her eyes on him. "That's a petty excuse and you know it. You didn't trust me, did you?"

The red haired medic stared at the young human for a while, looking over her before shaking his head. "No. I didn't."

"And because of that you spent months missing out on something I've spotted in just five minutes and could help his recovery time nearly halve."

The medic frowned in confusion. "Really? What?"

"Stitches." Scrap said simply. "The wound is too big for a meld so why not stitch it shut. Stiches will hold it much easier and allow movement more than your technique."

The male cybertronian's eyes almost exploded at the concept, as if he had been stupid to miss it.

Taking the moment to make her point, Scrap just walked off the wall, brushed against his shoulder roughly as she stepped out of the room.

~#~

Scrap sighed as she stood under the roof, looking out over the _Nemesis_ as the rain dripped and pounded over the metal. She was cold but not yet in the mood to go back inside, reaching out to the water as it fell in a curtain before her and collected a few drops in her palm hand, looking down on it, smiling at the sensation.

She liked it when it rained, like it was washing away everything that was wrong with the world.

"Scrap?"

"Hmm?" She said, turning to look back at Knockout, coming over to her.

The cybertronian cleared his throat then slipped his jacket off, placing it on her shoulders. "Here, you'll get cold."

"Thanks."

"Look, I… I have something to tell you."

The nurse huffed and turned back to the rain. "That you certainly do."

"I know you think I betrayed you, that I couldn't trust you but…"

"Why?"

"What?"

Her emerald eyes were still looking out the rain as she spoke, her voice calm and placid. "Why_ exactly_ didn't you tell me about him?"

Knockout sighed and looked out as well. "I'll tell you everything… if you don't speak until I'm finished. Deal?"

"Fine."

"Right then. I'll start at the very beginning. Well, long ago, eons ago even for us, before this planet was even fully developed, there was a cybertronian called Megatronus. He was a gladiator and he formed the Decepticons as a group hoping to change the way things were run on Cybertron. And when he formed the 'cons, he shortened his name to Megatron. At his side there was another called Orion Pax but nowadays we know him as Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. You might not believe it but they once considered themselves brothers." He drifted his eyes to look at the girl but she was just staring out at the rain, her hands holding his coat close for warmth.

"Anyway, after a while, Megatronus was betrayed by Orion when the council named Orion the new prime when the title was rightfully Megatronus' right to claim the title. So, he rebuked his former brother and turned to force to gain what he wanted. Others came to join the fight and civil war began."

Scrap turned her eyes only to look at him. "If that is the end of your story, it does not explain why you kept this a secret from me."

Perhaps the most important person in her life sighed. "Megatron is a vile man. I am under his command for one reason, because I believe the Decepticon cause. But Megatron is ruthless; he killed anyone, no matter their species just because they cross him. I kept his condition a secret from you, because I was afraid for you."

"You… You did? Why?"

"Because there is no telling what exactly he would do to you if he ever woke up and finds out you are human. So me and Starscream…."

"Starscream and I." Scrap corrected. If they were going to speak English, she was going to ensure it was correct English.

Knockout rolled his eyes. "Yes fine, Starscream and _I _came to an agreement. Since Starscream wants to remain leader, and although his ruling is nowhere near as ruthless as Megatron's, and since I want you to live, we agreed to keep his condition from you… and hoped he would remain in his mindless state… so you could stay with us."

The human took a deep breath and blinked. "You shouldn't have Knockout. I'm grateful you wanted to protect me but…that's not the right way to do it."

"I didn't expect you to understand, sweet spark, but it's the truth and it is for the best. I need you here and Megatron would not care about how good you are as a nurse. The second he sees your eyes, he'll know you're not cybertronian and he will kill you."

"Knockout, you can't do that to someone. What if it happened to you? How would you…"

He pointed at her suddenly. "But it didn't happen to me. I'm more concerned for your wellbeing then my pervious master's. I see you as my sparkling Scrap, and I promised to look after you." He sighed and his head fell to the side a little. "I'm not asking you to _accept_ why I did this. I just want you to _understand_ why I did."

She turned to look at him and her eyes narrowed. "Knockout, on Earth, when you become a nurse, you take an oath. It's called the Hippocratic Oath and it is perhaps the oldest and most important part of being a doctor or nurse. And part of that oath is this_; I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice." _She looked back at the sky. "It means that no matter what, I will do all I can to help those in need of aid. No matter."

Beside her, Knockout sighed. "So be it. If you want to help LordMegatronthen fine. I won't stop you. Just know what he will do to you."

_Next week: Things escalate and take a very dark turn. _

* * *

**A/N: Hey mech and femmes! This is Aria/Butter commin' at ya with this weekends A/N. first o' all, how's the story workin' for ya guys? Good? Okay! Hope ya all enjoy this chapter!**

**Aria oouutttt!**

**Storylady A/N: Just to add, don't forget to review and if you can, go to my proflie page and take part in the vote. **

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	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10: Goodnight Scrap **

A very long and tiring week had passed since Scrap discovered the real leader of the Decepticons but since then Knockout had secured the needed tools and the learnt what he required to put her idea into action. Now Megatron's wound was not only closed but healing neatly and he also now had a second, more diligent, pair of eyes watching over him as he recovered.

Until that point, Knockout had checked on the comatose Lord twice a day, once when he got up and once at the end of his shift. But Scrap went in to check on his progress at least once an hour, even when the med bay was at its peak of business.

During the quiet times she would go in and ensure the wound was clean, check the tubes sustaining him were stable and try to analysis how to help him. Daily she'd come up with ideas, putting them forwards to Knockout for considerations. Some he shot down at once, saying they would never work on a cybertronian but others he said he would research to see if they had use.

Almost proud she would be part of the leader of the Decepticons recovery; a very tired human stepped out of her washroom and slipped into her two piece pyjamas. Airachnid had brought her a cute little one piece but after getting called to deal with an emergency in the middle of the night, she'd taken to wearing a top and pants style one.

Dressed, washed and tired, she climbed into bed and turned off the lights with the switch by her head. She was so tired; she just dropped off in less than twenty second but her mind was racing wildly with ideas to help Lord Megatron. It wouldn't settle in her head so she tossed and turned as her brain processed every little detail of anything she could do, as well as going over all the praise she had gotten from Knockout.

As time went on she started to feel hot, agitated and the woman kicked the covers from over her and rolled towards the wall, curling slightly on herself but the notion only increased her irritation. She was tingling like something cold was crossing her skin. She could feel it, something in the air that was cold and close to her legs, but in her half-asleep state she paid no mind, only mumbling and curling on herself more, trying to keep warm.

The strange sensation did not stop, even as she reached down with a half numb hand to feel her leg where the feeling was coming from.

Her eyes snapped open upon feeling something wet and she looked at her hand to see something dark covering the tip of her fingers. Rolling swiftly to face the window, using the moonlight as it steamed in, she made out the form stood near her bed, looming over her, their shape large and made to look even more menacing by the limited light.

The human blinked, staring madly at the form before her until cold metal brushed against the outside of her leg. That was when she screamed, backing up against the wall and reaching blindly for the light switch, all the time screaming at the top of her lungs.

When she turned to find it, she heard fast heavy steps running off and when the lights did switch on, she was alone. But that didn't stop her pulling her sheets up over her body, her screams now turning to loud sobs while tears came down her face.

Someone came running in and looked down at her. "Scrap?" Knockout gasped, looking at the strange sight before him. His nurse was sat on her bed, knees curled up to her chest while holding a sheet over her chest, ignoring the fact her legs were bare and showing several small strange cuts on them, lines of blood tickling down to stain the sheets.

Breakdown soon followed and looked as well but then frowned, pushing his partner to the side and grabbed the girl, pulling her up to his chest and wrapping his arms around her. "Knockout." He ordered, his eyes narrow. "Go after him!"

That was when Knockout realised. Someone had attacked her. The cuts were from someone grabbing her legs. Eyes blazing, he turned and ran off as fast as he could, trying to catch up with whoever was in the area.

Meanwhile Breakdown rocked the human in his arms, trying to sooth her as she cried but all the while he too wanted to chase down whoever was responsible for this and rip their spark out. A few minutes passed and he began to feel sick, sitting in that room and his mind began playing tricks on what could and did happen.

Still holding her, he stood and left it, taking her to his room instead and sitting on his bed with her still in his arms. Scrap sniffed loudly as she pressed herself firmly to him, the crying slowing. After a few minutes Knockout came back, shaking his head. "Fragger's gone." He said, looking at her. He stood, thinking for a moment then nodded. "I'm getting Soundwave."

"What?" Breakdown said, a little amazed at the idea. "But…."

"One of our crew was attacked, not to mention a female. This is serious Breakdown and I'm going to ensure it is treated as such. Watch over her until I get back."

With that he turned around and left and Breakdown was left looking down on Scrap who appeared to have gained a little control of herself. "Scrap. I know this is hard but… you have to tell me what you saw."

Scrap sniffed and closed herself up in his arms. "I… I felt something, on my legs. I was hot all over and… and when I opened my eyes, someone was stood over me."

"Did you recognise them?"

"They had armour on."

The mech growled at the cowardice but said nothing. He just sat, waiting until Knockout and the silent Decepticon arrived, the former looking down on the pair blank and emotionless as always. Knockout nodded first. "Scrap, will you let Soundwave look at your legs?"

"W…why?" She stammered, curling up even more.

Knockout had that serious, deadpan look in his eyes, she'd only seen when in the middle of something that needed true attention. The jokey, playful Knockout was gone for the moment as he focused on the task at hand. "There might be a clue to who did this on your skin. Please."

The human nodded and moved to slip out of Breakdown's grip but her brother grabbed her tighter. "What if he's the attacker?!" He hissed, eyes narrow on Soundwave.

Knockout didn't even think about it as he waved his hand in the air. "Soundwave wouldn't know what a femme _is_, let alone what to _do_ with one."

After a moment to think, Breakdown seemed to agree and let his precious cargo stand. Soundwave, unfazed by the comment, knelt, looking at the side of Scrap's legs where the cuts were. He remained where he was, staring, unmoving for a good few minutes before reaching out and touching one. She flinched a little but kept as still as she could.

Normally she would be fascinated by being this close to the strange, isolated Decepticon but tonight she just wanted to jump in the shower and wash every inch of herself.

And that was just what she was able to do. Having touched her leg and staring at his hand, Soundwave stood and left the room, Knockout behind him. Breakdown looked at her then nodded to his shower, leaving her to wash in private.

Once washed and dried, the human found some of Breakdown's clean clothes and slipped them on, wanting to be nowhere near her own at that moment. And since the men didn't appear to be coming back, she went to the bed and pulled over the warm thick covers. They were a little rough but at that moment, she just wanted to be surrounded in anything that wasn't hers. The smells were different, the itch, the warmth.

Her head dropped before she had chance to think.

"And I'm telling you, she didn't see them. Only the armour."

"She might be able to recognise the armour." Knockout countered. "It might narrow it down."

Breakdown grunted. "They are interchangeable. It could have been anyone."

"Well…"

Soundwave who was leading the three into the room, turned sharply and placed one finger to where his mouth would have been, silencing the pair before turning to look at the bed.

Knockout looked as well then smiled and turned to leave. "Let her sleep, we have enough to work on for now."

Breakdown nodded and the two left, leaving Soundwave as he looked at the girl, frozen in place. Then, after a moment, he turned and stalked his way out of the room and into the living space where the red and the black haired mechs stood waiting for him.

"Well?" Knockout asked.

Soundwave said nothing and did nothing other than walk out of the medical and down the halls.

Behind him, Breakdown and Knockout thought he was just being himself, being the emotionless, sparkless creature they knew.

In truth, Soundwave was so angry the razors of his glove were cutting into his flesh and energon was dripping to the floor.

In investigating Scrap's wounds he'd found oil. Engine oil that was used only on a seeker's jet. And there was only one Seeker who would dare attack the female.

~#~

Scrap chose to consume her every waking moment with work in the following two days. She cleaned every inch of the medical bay and when that was finished; she restudied everything she knew about the cybertronians. She literally worked until her body dropped and she'd fall asleep wherever she was, in the lounge, at her desk or in the kitchen. If she sat down for more than a few minutes, she'd be stuck in a dreamless sleep.

Knockout and Breakdown were a little concerned with her behaviour but they agreed to give her a week to work this out in her own way before they intervened.

They were also irritated as Soundwave hadn't come back to them with any findings of the attack. They were beginning to think he had just forgotten the human, deeming her as unimportant. It just made their energon boil to know nothing was happening.

Two whole days passed and the only change was that Scrap's bedroom door now had a lock installed on it.

"I don't care about protocols or rules! She is getting a lock!" Knockout had all but screamed at Starscream when requesting the device. And not wanting to upset his medical team, Starscream allowed it.

But while the lock was programmed to only accept the three of them access, and put the two men at rest, was it didn't help the girl. She still felt exposed and vulnerable.

Sighing, she leant back against her chair and lowered the data pad she was reading from as she found herself wondering what she could and _should_ do. Just then, she turned suddenly at the sound of the main med doors opening and was amazed to see perhaps the worst collection of injuries she had ever seen.

Strangely, it was Skyquake who came hobbling into the room, energon dripping from lots of different injuries. Scrap gasped and kicked her chair back as she ran over with Knockout to support him, easing him to a table. "Easy Skyquake." She said with a sigh. "What happened?"

Skyquake grunted suddenly, as if just realising where he was and what was going on. His one good golden eye widened suddenly and he pushed her back away from him. "Stay away from me! You just stay away from me!"

The human was thrown off balance and landed on her backside, looking up at the wounded man in amazement. "What… what? I'm just trying to help!"

"Well you stay away from me!" He yelled then grabbed his side and grunting in pain.

Knockout nodded to her. "Scrap, I've got this."

Irritated at being pushed aside so roughly, Scrap stood up and frowned at the pair but then turned and went back to her studies. When she was engulfed in her work once more, Knockout began tending to the man beside him while eyeing the wounds carefully. "I must say Skyquake." He said, cleaning up the one around his eye. "I've never known the Autobots to afflict this kind of damage before. It must have been some fight."

Skyquake said nothing, just sat there, taking the treatment.

Knockout grinned in victory. "You know, I've seen wounds like this before. But… only in data files. It's a legendary skill taught only to those of the highest rank of Koan." His eyes lifted to look at the seeker. "It's used to extract information and inflict torture."

The wounded seeker gasped as Knockout pressed hard on a wound, none to carefully. "Watch it!"

"Ops." He said, as innocently as he could. "So he didn't cut your tongue out?"

"Leave it Knockout."

The medic grinned as he went to his trade. "Of course." He frowned at him and leant a little closer. "But if you ever go near her again, this will be nothing compared to what _I_ will do to you." He took the melding torch to a wound and the seeker hissed in pain while his second torturer smiled.

It took ages for Knockout to seal each and very cut, often not very gently, all the while with Skyquake refusing to look at anything pardon the floor. When he was finally finished, he got off the table and spared a glance at the back of the human but then grunted then left.

Knockout chuckled to himself then went over to Scrap, patting her shoulder for a moment then walked on.

~#~

Running a hand back in her hair, Scrap just sighed to herself, walking mindlessly across the ship. It was night outside and she knew she wasn't meant to be out and about without an escort but sleep was out of her grasp.

For some reason she kept on thinking about Skyquake, each time making her feel sick to a point she thought she'd come down with something. Knockout had given her some medicine to help her but it had yet to work and it had been three hours.

She didn't want to disturb his sleep again so just set off for a walk, hoping to make it kick in sooner. It was possible, she realised, that it never would work, since in his half sleepy state, he'd given her cybertronian medicine.

That just made her sigh again and rub her head. Her mind wanted sleep, it was crying out for it but her body just would not rest. Eyes closed, she thought about heading back to her room for some reading when she was knocked off balance by someone coming around the corner and fell to the floor with a bump. "Oofh!" She grunted then looked up at the person.

Even with his visor, she could tell Soundwave was a little confused by seeing her sat on the floor near his feet. The human just laughed. "We have got to stop bumping into each other!"

Soundwave said nothing but he did move to hold out his hand, helping her up from the floor.

Scrap scratched the back of her neck as she stood before him, unable to look at the visor. "I… umm… I guess I should explain why I'm out here on my own. I know I'm not meant to but…" Her smile faded a little. "I just can't sleep. I keep thinking about… about what happened and… I feel sick."

The communications officer stood, statue like as the human explained her situation and soon the air grew uncomfortable, to the point where most would turn and leave yet Scrap just moved her eyes from the floor to his faceplate, tipping her head to the side a little. "I'm sorry for bumping into you again Soundwave. I'll… head back to my room now."

Soundwave allowed her to move but then, as her arm brushed past his armour, something reached out with lightning fast reflexes and grabbed her wrist. Like before, it wasn't in a way that hurt or endangered her but did make her stop in place and turn to see her own shocked reaction mirrored to her.

"Umm… Soundwave?" She voiced as he kept his grip. "Is something wrong?"

The cybertronian just kept still but then twisted his grip on her wrist and began walking, heading down the hallway, dragging Scrap behind him.

She wasn't scared, more curious to what he was doing, where he was taking her. Soon she realised he wasn't taking her back to her room, the route wasn't right. And when they went to an elevator, she knew he wasn't taking her back. She hadn't left level five so where ever they were going, it wasn't back to medical.

As Soundwave stood in the elevator, Scrap wondered how he was going to make it work. After all, the lifts were voice activated.

But then the ground moved and not a word had been spoken.

_There must be another way. _She thought to herself, bracing for the breakneck speed of the ride as they went up. All the time, Soundwave kept his light but firm grip on her wrist and when the doors opened, he pulled her once more.

There were no markings to tell where she was but the doors on this floor were closer together, showing whatever was behind them were small and close to each other. Eyes on the doors, keeping a slow step with the man leading her, Scrap didn't notice where she really was going until she collided to Soundwave's arm.

The bot looked at her and she had a feeling whatever was behind that glass was looking at her like she was an idiot. Her cheeks warmed at the embarrassment but then Soundwave turned to the door he'd stopped outside and pressed the door control before pulling her inside.

Scrap was amazed by how dark and small the room was. It didn't have a window or a desk or a bathroom. Just a bunk. The human looked over the dark room then at Soundwave. "What… what are we doing here?" She asked.

Almost invisible in the faint light, Soundwave turned on the spot to face her, his hand reaching up towards her. She was still, unafraid, dispute what had recently happened. Curiosity was stronger than caution when it came to Soundwave.

The Decepticon appeared to realise she was judging his actions as they slowed a little, his hand reaching out for her neck. The cold metal tickled her but other than a small flinch, she didn't move, feeling as the fingertips reached behind her head to the base of her skull.

Still stood before her, Soundwave carefully began moving his fingers, as if trying to find something. Scrap looked forwards, motionless as she felt him suddenly find what he was looking for and pushed into her skin.

A painless gust ran across her and she lost all consciousness, her knees giving way and she began to fall forwards until colliding with something hard and solid. But the contact was remarkably soft due to the arms that had wrapped around her and were now holding her up.

Looking down on her sleeping face, Soundwave kept still before sweeping the woman into his arms, her ear to his chest. Once more, he stopped, looking down at her, watching how her chest rose and fell and how her warm breath fogged up against the metal on his chest.

Watching her comfortably sleeping in his arms he stepped over the bed and placed her carefully on the bunch, removing his hands and looking down on her once more. Shifting to the end of the cot, he took hold of a blanket and covered her slender frame with it. The human smiled in her induced sleep and rolled onto her side, pulling the cloth to her chin while her dreams warmly span around her.

~#~

Purring, Scrap rolled onto her back and looked over at her wrist where her communicator was, bleeping at her. Pressing it she looked at who was calling her. "Ah? Knockout? What is it?"

"Scrap, where the frag are you?"

"Umm…" She said, sitting up in the strange room and looking around it. "I… I don't know."

"What!"

Standing, the woman ran a hand over the wall, using it to find the door. "I'm on the ship but… I don't know where. But don't worry, I'll find my way back to medical. I'll see you in a bit." Sighing, Scrap looked over the door, trying to tell who it belonged to or what it was.

But it was as blank as the rest of the _Nemesis_. She didn't even know what floor she was on. She tried to remember how she came to be here and as she yawned, she looked at her wrist and it all came back. "Soundwave." She whispered to herself then turned to look at the door again and slowly walked down the hallway, heading for the medical bay.

~#~

Meanwhile, back in the empty room, the door slid open silently and an even more silent form entered his own personal quarters. He rarely even used them but he kept them in a perfect condition for when he wanted them. Never before had he thought he would bring a female to them and allow her to sleep there. But as he looked at the nest that she appeared to have made of his blankets, he found himself not wanting to correct it, wanting to preserve it and keep it as she had left it. His sharp eyes scanned the pillow as he noticed a single short red hair lying on the pillow.

Careful not to disturb the rest of the bed, he picked it up between his fingers and twisted it, admiring how the faint light shimmered off it.

**A/N: Thanks once again to everyone who is following and loving this story! **

**Rocky, Aria and I just love your reviews and support! And thanks to everyone who took part in the vote, the tally has been taken and we have a draw so both characters will return to the story. You will have to wait and see which ones. (Warning, it will be a long wait. Into the new year long.)**

**But there is something serious I wanted to say. **

**Due to other commitments, Rocky has been struggling to meet our Sunday editing deadlines so we now want to look for a ****second**** editor to help her with the Sound of Scrap's Heart. **

**If you are interested, please state in a review but please know, we ****will**** require to have email contact so do not apply if you do not want to be contacted away from Fan Fiction. **

**Otherwise, hope you enjoyed the chapter and we will see you next Sunday! **

**I'm sure you will like it:**

_Next week: Autobots_


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